1  am  - 

...  . 


: 


THE  CHURCHES  OF  MATTATUCK. 


THE  CHURCHES  OF  MATTATUCK  : 
A  RECORD  OF  A  BI-CENTENNIAL 
CELEBRATION  AT  WATERBURY,  CON- 
NECTICUT, NOVEMBER  4TH  AND  5x11,1891. 


EDITED   BY  JOSEPH  ANDERSON,  S.  T.  D.( 

PASTOR    OF    THE    MOTHER     CHURCH,     MEMBER     OF    THE    AMERICAN   ANTIQUARIAN 
SOCIETY,    THE    AMERICAN    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATION,    ETC. 


NEW  HAVEN : 

PRESS  OF  THE  PRICE,  LEE  &  ADKINS  COMPANY. 
1892. 


TO  MY  PEOPLE. 

NOT  MINE  ALONE,  THIS  STORY  OF  THE  PAST. 

MINE  THE  DIM  OUTLINE, — OTHER  HANDS  HAVE  CAUGHT 
THE  CHANGING  COLORS  OF  THE  CENTURIES  VAST 

AND  LIFE'S  SWEET  CHARM  INTO  THE  CANVAS  WROUGHT. 

NOT  MINE  ;   AND  YET  I  FONDLY  PRESS  MY  CLAIM  ! 

HAVE  I  NOT  WATCHED  THE  PICTURE  SLOWLY  GROW, 
ADDING,  THE  WHILE,  EVENT  AND  DATE  AND  NAME — 

SOME  TOUCH  OF  LIGHT — TO  WIN  PERFECTION  so? 

AND  NOW,    O    FRIENDS    LONG    LOVED,    MY    FINISHED    TASK 

To  YOU  I  BRING.     THAT  IT  SHOULD  SPEAK  OF  ME 
IN  ANY  TIME  TO  COME,  I  DO  NOT  ASK  ; 
BUT  LET  IT  TEACH  YOU  EVERMORE  TO  BE 

To  THAT  GREAT  PAST  MORE  JUST,  RESPONSIVE,  TRUE, 
WHENCE  THROUGH  THE  YEARS  GOD'S  MESSAGE  COMES  TO  YOU. 

JOSEPH  ANDERSON. 

MAY  4TH,  1892. 


PREFACE. 

It  appears  from  an  Indian  deed  of  1657,  and  from 
certain  entries  in  the  colonial  records  in  1673,  that 
the  name  by  which  Waterbury  was  first  known  was 
Mattatuckoke, — which  means,  "  the  place  without 
trees,"  or,  "  the  badly  wooded  land."  The  name, 
like  all  Indian  geographical  names,  was  accurately 
descriptive;  but  whether  it  was  originally  applied 
to  the  treeless  meadows  of  the  Naugatuck,  which 
are  so  extensive  in  this  part  of  the  valley,  or  to 
some  other  badly  wooded  place,  cannot  now  be  pos- 
itively decided.  However  this  may  be,  the  name  was 
used  but  a  short  time  by  white  men  ere  the  termina- 
tion okt  (meaning  "land  "  or  "place  ")  was  dropped, 
and  the  name  in  its  shortened  form,  Mattatuck,came 
to  be  applied  to  the  entire  region  afterward  incor- 
porated as  the  town  of  Waterbury.  This  territory 
embraces  to-day  the  towns  of  Waterbury, Watertown, 
Plymouth,  Thomaston,  Naugatuck  and  Middlebury, 
a  large  part  of  Wolcott  and  Prospect,  and  portions 
of  Oxford,  Litchfield  and  Harwinton. 

The  Congregational  churches  of  this  region  may 
without  impropriety  be  designated  "  The  Churches 
of  Mattatuck,"  and  this  is  the  name  assigned  to 
them  on  the  title-page  of  this  volume.  These 
churches,  although  scattered  over  so  wide  a  field, 
and  not  all  in  close  fellowship  with  one  another, 
are  brought  into  a  well  defined  group  by  virtue  of 
their  common  descent  from  the  church  organized 


viii  PREFACE. 

at  the  centre  of  the  ancient  town  in  1691.  The  aim 
of  those  who  had  charge  of  the  bi-centenary  of  the 
original  organization  was  to  have  this  entire  group 
of  churches  represented  in  the  public  services  by 
their  pastors. 

The  papers  read  by  these  pastors,  and  the  ad- 
dresses made  by  other  speakers,  are  reproduced  in 
full  in  the  following  pages.  The  addresses  of  those 
who  spoke  without  manuscript  were  stenographi- 
cally  reported.  Of  the  paper  by  the  Rev.  E.  B.  Hil- 
lard,  of  Conway,  Mass.,  only  a  synopsis  was  given 
at  the  celebration.  While  histories  have  been  pub- 
lished elsewhere,  in  pamphlet  or  book  form,  of  the 
other  older  churches  of  the  Waterbury  group — 
Watertown,  Wolcott  and  Naugatuck — no  history  of 
the  church  in  Plymouth  has  hitherto  appeared 
except  in  a  series  of  articles  in  a  local  newspaper. 
As  Plymouth  is  with  one  exception  the  eldest 
daughter  and  has  been  the  most  prolific  of  all,  and 
as  her  record  strikingly  illustrates  the  painful  pro- 
cess by  which  derivative  churches  and  towns  were 
brought  into  being  in  early  Connecticut,  it  seems 
appropriate  that  Mr.  Hillard's  transcript  of  Ply- 
mouth history  should  be  given  in  full. 

In  the  service  devoted  to  the  derivative  churches, 
two  or  three  of  those  churches  were  not  heard 
from.  That  Northfield  had  a  place  among  the 
"  grand-daughters  "  was  a  fact  I  was  not  aware  of 
until  after  the  celebration  was  over.  The  relation  of 
Oxford  to  Waterbury  I  was  not  sure  of.  I  have 
prepared  (not  without  considerable  labor)  sketches 
of  these  churches,  also  of  the  church  at  Terryville 
and  the  little  church  at  Reynolds  Bridge,  and  for 
the  sake  of  completeness  have  included  them  in 


PREFACE.  ix 

this  volume,  where  they  may  be  found  in  their 
proper  chronological  order. 

In  preparing  the  various  addresses  and  papers 
for  the  press  I  have  added  bibliographical  and 
other  notes  which  may  be  of  service  to  those  desir- 
ing to  pursue  still  further  the  history  of  a  church, 
a  district  or  a  period.  I  have  also  prefixed  some 
historical  memoranda,  by  the  help  of  which  the 
proper  place  of  Waterbury  in  the  early  develop- 
ment of  Connecticut  may  be  definitely  recognized, 
and  have  given  a  careful  account  of  the  bi-centen- 
'nial  celebration  itself,  reproducing  therein  the  pro- 
gram of  the  entire  series  of  services.  Other  mat- 
ters connected  more  or  less  closely  with  the  occasion 
are  given  as  "  addenda."  The  additions  thus  made — 
including  a  full  index — constitute  about  one-fifth 
of  the  volume,  and  represent  the  earnest  desire  of 
the  editor  to  give  to  it  such  completeness  as  was 
possible  within  prescribed  limits.  In  this  way 
may  also  be  explained — in  part  at  least — the  long 
delay  in  the  publication  of  the  book. 

In  the  public  celebration,  but  little  reference  was 
made  to  those  who  have  served  as  pastors  of  the 
First  church  since  the  death  of  Mark  Leaven- 
worth,  and  accordingly  this  record  of  that  celebra- 
tion contains  only  their  names  and  the  dates  of 
their  pastorates.  Some  of  these  men  were  undoubt- 
edly as  able  and  devoted,  and  as  well  worthy  of 
commemoration,  as  those  whose  lives  are  here 
recorded.  But  the  exigencies  of  the  occasion  were 
such  that,  although  materials  were  not  wanting, 
detailed  accounts  could  not  be  presented.  To  com- 
plete the  history  of  the  mother  church,  even  on 
the  basis  which  the  present  compilation  indicates, 


x  PREFACE. 

would  require  a  second  volume,  giving  biographies 
of  the  pastors  of  the  present  century  and  an  accu- 
rate account  of  the  relations  of  the  church  to  our 
other  churches  and  to  the  large  and  busy  life  of 
the  Waterbury  of  to-day. 

JOSEPH   ANDERSON. 
Waterbury,  May  4th,  1892. 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION. 


THE  BI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION,  3 

HISTORICAL  DATA, 18 

I.  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  WATERBURY. 

DR.  JOSEPH  ANDERSON'S  HISTORICAL  DISCOURSE,     -  25 

II.  THE  WATERBURY  CHURCHES. 

WORDS  OF  INTRODUCTION,        .....  57 

DR.  EDMUND  ROWLAND'S  ADDRESS,  59 

REV.  W.  P.  ELSDON'S  ADDRESS,     -  63 

REV.  A.  C.  EGGLESTON'S  ADDRESS,  68 

MR.  D.  F.  MALTBY'S  PAPER.  72 

REV.  J.  G.  DAVENPORT'S  POEM,         -        -  76 

III.  THE  MOTHER  AND  THE  DAUGHTERS. 

THE  CHURCH  IN  FARMINGTON,  93 

THE  CHURCH  IN  WATERTOWN,   -        -                 -        -  99 

THE  CHURCH  IN  PLYMOUTH, 108 

THE  CHURCH  IN  OXFORD, 131 

THE  CHURCH  IN  WOLCOTT, 136 

THE  CHURCH  IN  NAUGATUCK,             ....  14! 

THE  CHURCH  AT  NORTHFIELD,        ....  ^3 

THE  CHURCH  IN  MIDDLEBURY,    -----  153 

THE  CHURCH  IN  PROSPECT, 160 

THE  CHURCH  IN  THOMASTON, 163 

THE  CHURCH  AT  TERRYVILLE,         ....  ^5 

THE  CHURCH  AT  REYNOLDS  BRIDGE,          -        -        -  169 


xii  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

IV.  EARLY  AND  LATER  PASTORS. 

JEREMIAH  PECK,  BY  Miss  S.  J.  PRICHARD,             -  173 

JOHN  SOUTHMAYD,  by  Miss  PRICHARD,      -        -        -  184 

MARK  LEAVENWORTH,  BY  HON.  F.  J.  KINGSBURY,  197 

DR.  H.  B.  ELLIOT'S  ADDRESS,        ....  209 

DR.  GEORGE  BUSHNELL'S  ADDRESS,     -        -        -        -  215 

V.  REMINISCENCE  AND  CONGRATULATION. 

REV.  J.  L.  R.  WYCKOFF'S  ADDRESS,      -        -        -  227 

REV.  J.  S.  ZELIE'S  ADDRESS, 233 

PRESIDENT  FRANKLIN  CARTER'S  ADDRESS,               -  240 

ADDENDA. 

LETTERS  FROM  ABSENT  FRIENDS,         ....  253 

RELICS  OF  THE  DEAD, 257 

INDEX, -  265 


INTRODUCTION. 


INTRODUCTION. 


I. 


The  first  public  reference  to  a  celebration  of  the 
bi-centenary  of  the  First  Church  in  Waterbury 
was  made  on  Sunday,  March  ist,  1891,  at  a  com- 
munion service  in  which  the  two  Congregational 
churches  of  the  city  participated.  It  was  sug- 
gested that  as  the  26th  of  August,  the  true  anniver- 
sary of  the  organization  of  the  mother  church,  was 
for  various  reasons  an  unfavorable  time  for  the 
celebration,  it  should  take  place  in  the  autumn. 

On  the  2oth  of  September,  the  question  of  a  pub- 
lic celebration  having  been  laid  before  the  congre- 
gation of  the  First  church,  it  was  voted  that  public 
services  be  held  on  the  4th  and  5th  of  November, 
that  the  Second  Congregational  church  be  invited 
to  a  special  participation  in  it,  and  that  the  stand- 
ing committee  secure  the  appointment  of  a  suitable 
committee  of  arrangements,  on  which  both  churches 
should  be  represented.  The  invitation  was  accepted 
by  the  Second  church,  and  a  committee  of  ladies 
and  gentlemen  was  appointed,  numbering  forty. 

At  a  meeting  of  this  committee  on  the  5th  of 
October,  the  Hon.  S.  W.  Kellogg  was  appointed 
chairman,  and  Dr.  E.  O.  Hovey  secretary.  The 
work  of  preparation  was  divided  among  the  follow- 
ing special  committees: 


4  BI-CENTENNIAL   CELEBRATION. 

On  public  services  :  The  Rev.  Joseph  Anderson,  D.  D.,  the 
Rev.  John  G.  Davenport,  A.  S.  Gibson,  Dea.  D.  F.  Maltby, 
O.  H.  Stevens,  Miss  Sarah  J.  Prichard,  Mrs.  Cornelia  M. 
Benedict,  Mrs.  D.  F.  Webster. 

On  hospitality :  Mrs.  L.  I.  Munson,  Mrs.  H.  L.  Welch,  Mrs. 
H.  C.  Griggs,  Mrs.  W.  E.  Riley,  Miss  Martha  Kendrick,  Mrs. 
J.  R.  Smith,  Mrs.  G.  E.  Terry,  Dea.  G.  W.  Beach,  S.  M.  Judd. 

On  church  decorations :  Mrs.  F.  B.  Rice,  Mrs.  E.  L.  Bron- 
son,  Mrs.  G.  L.  White,  Mrs.  A.  C.  Peck,  C.  M.  Upson,  A.  J. 
Blakesley. 

On  finances :  Earl  Smith  (treasurer),  J.  H.  Bronson,  Israel 
Holmes,  Elisha  Leavenworth. 

On  printing  and  publication  :  C.  F.  Chapin,  R.  R.  Stannard, 
Miss  Anna  L.  Ward,  Miss  Helen  Sperry. 

The  other  members  of  the  committee  of  arrangements  were 
as  follows  :  Mrs.  Charlotte  F.  Blackman,  Mrs.  Cornelia  A. 
Buel,  Miss  Mary  E.  Cook,  Miss  Margaret  Croft,  Miss  Susan 
Spencer,  H.  F.  Bassett,  A.  S.  Chase,  W.  H.  Cooke,  C.  P.  Goss, 
Dea.  Eben  Hoadley. 

On  the  23d  of  October  a  circular  letter  was  sent 
out  to  pastors  and  others,  giving  an  outline  of  the 
two  days'  program  which  was  in  preparation,  and 
conveying  "a  cordial  invitation  to  be  present  at 
the  celebration  "  to 

all  the  churches  in  the  city  of  Waterbury  and  within  the 
bounds  of  the  ancient  township,  to  churches  in  the  vicinity,  to 
former  members  -of  the  First  church,  still  surviving,  and  their 
descendants,  and  to  friends  of  the  old  church  wherever  they 
may  be. 

A  list  of  the  Congregational  churches  existing 
within  the  bounds  of  ancient  "Mattatuck"  was 
given,  and  it  was  announced  that  most  of  these,  as 
well  as  all  the  Protestant  churches  of  the  city,  and 
also  the  Congregational  church  in  Farmington, 
"the  mother  of  us  all,"  would  be  represented  in  the 
exercises  of  November  4th  and  5th  by  their  pastors 


PREPARATIONS.  5 

or  prominent  members.  The  hope  was  also 
expressed  that  the  "  daughter  churches "  would 
appoint  delegations  to  be  present  at  some,  if  not 
all,  of  the  services. 

The  hopes  and  promises  of  the  letter  of  invita- 
tion were  pleasantly  fulfilled.  The  committee  on 
public  services  was  so  fortunate  as  to  secure  the 
acceptance  of  all,  without  exception,  who  had  been 
invited  to  take  part  in  the  several  public  meetings, 
and  the  other  committees  fulfilled  their  various 
duties  with  zeal  and  success. 

The  arrangement  of  the  interior  of  the  church 
received  careful  attention  from  the  committee  on 
decorations  and  their  assistants,  and  was  consid- 
ered unusually  artistic  and  appropriate.  On  the 
main  walls  of  the  church,  between  the  windows, 
were  hung  large  tablets  in  the  form  of  shields, 
bearing  the  names  of  the  churches  descended  from 
the  mother  church  and  the  dates  of  their  organiza- 
tion. On  the  gallery  across  the  rear  of  the  audito- 
rium were  the  names  of  the  ''granddaughters" — 
churches  derived  from  the  church  in  Plymouth. 
On  the  end  wall,  facing  the  congregation,  was  a 
large  and  elaborate  tablet,  containing  the  names  of 
all  the  pastors  of  the  First  church  and  the  dates  of 
their  pastorates,  and  high  above  the  choir  gallery, 
on  either  side  of  the  organ,  were  panels  bearing 
the  dates,  1691  and  1891.  The  woodwork  behind 
the  pulpit,  constituting  the  front  of  the  choir  gal- 
lery, was  covered  with  a  mass  of  foliage  consisting 
of  laurel  branches,  and  bearing  the  inscription, 
"Farmington,  1652,  the  Mother  of  Us  All,"  and  on 
the  other  side,  "  Waterbury,  1691."  The  pulpit  plat- 
form was  occupied  with  masses  of  flowers  and  foli- 


6  BI-GENTENNIAL   CELEBRATION. 

age-plants,  and  rustic  baskets,  filled  with  flowers 
and  trimmed  with  autumn  leaves,  hung  from  the 
peaks  of  the  arches  between  the  columns  on  either 
side.  The  tablets  on  the  walls  were  also  adorned 
with  masses  of  autumn  leaves. 

The  only  decorations  elsewhere  were  those  in  the 
church  parlors,  consisting  of  newly  framed  por- 
traits of  a  number  of  the  pastors  and  deacons. 
Deacon  Edward  L.  Bronson,  some  time  before  his 
death,  began  collecting  photographs  of  his  prede- 
cessors in  office,  and  Mrs.  Bronson  continued  the 
work.  Having  brought  together  all  that  could  be 
procured — making  an  unbroken  series  from  1818 
to  the  present  day — she  had  them  mounted  and 
placed  in  two  frames  of  antique  oak  in  time  for  the 
celebration.  Portraits  of  six  of  the  pastors — a 
series  extending  from  Joel  R.  Arnold  to  Dr.  George 
Bushnell — were  also  placed  in  an  appropriate 
frame  and  hung  upon  the  parlor  wall.  Above  this 
was  placed  a  small  photograph  of  the  church  edifice 
preceding  the  present  one,  and  on  one  side  an 
engraved  portrait  of  the  present  pastor  and  on  the 
other  a  similar  portrait  of  the  Rev.  Luke  Wood, 
pastor  from  1807  to  1819.  This  last  was  the  gift  of 
the  Rev.  Francis  T.  Russell,  rector  of  St.  Margaret's 
diocesan  school,  who,  in  a  letter  regretting  his 
necessary  absence,  said  : 

I  can  do  a  better  thing  to  show  my  interest  than  to  be 
present  myself,  which  is,  to  ask  your  acceptance  of  an  excellent 
likeness  of  my  dear  grandfather.  I  will  ask  you  to  insert  the 
dates  of  his  pastorate,  and  have  it  framed  ....  with 
reference  to  the  place  you  may  prefer  to  have  it  occupy. 

Outside  of  the  church,  in  the  rear  of  the  chapel 
a  collection  of  another  kind  had  been  arranged,  for 


PREPARATIONS.  7 

examination  by  any  who  might  be  interested  in 
memorials  of  those  long  dead.  During  the  summer 
of  1891,  while  the  old  burying  ground  on  Grand 
street  was  undergoing  transformation  into  a  park, 
and  headstones  were  being  taken  away  or  buried 
out  of  sight,  the  pastor  of  the  First  church  had 
several  of  the  headstones — the  oldest  and  those  of 
special  historical  interest — removed  temporarily  to 
the  church  yard.  At  the  same  time  he  had  the 
remains  of  the  second  and  third  pastors  of  the 
church  disinterred,  *  with  reference  to  a  suitable 
disposition  of  them  in  ground  belonging  to  the 
parish.  It  was  at  one  time  intended  that  the  re-in- 
terment of  these  remains  should  take  place  in 
connection  with  the  memorial  service  which  had 
been  arranged  for  Thursday  afternoon,  November 
5th.  This  plan  it  was  found  necessary  to  abandon, 
but  the  ancient  headstones  were  brought  together 
and  placed  against  the  wall  on  the  east  side  of  the 
church  yard  in  proper  order,  that  all  who  wished 
might  examine  them.  The  following  are  the 
inscriptions  upon  them  : 

Here  is  |  The  Body  of  |  Thos.  Judd,  Esq.  |  The  first  | 
Justice  |  Deacon  |  Captain  |  in  Waterbury  |  who  Died  Jan'y  | 
ye  4th  A.  D.  1747  |  Aged  79. 

Here  lyeth  |  ye  Body  of  Mrs.  Sarah  :  |  Judd  wife  of  Decn  | 
Thomas  Judd.      She  |  dyed  Septr.  ye  28,  1738  |  in  ye  69  year 
of  |  hur  Age. 

In  Memory  of  |  Thomas  Clark  |  Esqr  who    departed  |  this 
life  Novr  12.  |  1765.     In  his  75th.  |  year. 

*  The  place  of  burial  of  the  Rev.  Jeremiah  Peck  is  not  known. 

A  fuller  statement  regarding  these  disinterments  will  be  found  at  the   end  of 
this  volume. 


8  BI-CENTENNIAL   CELEBRATION. 

Here  lies  the  Body  of  |  Timothy  Hopkins  |  Esq.  |  who  died 
Febry  ye  $ih  \  A.  Dom.  1748  |  Aged  57  years.  |  when  this  you 
See,  |  then  think  on  me. 

Here  lies  ye  Body  |  of  ye  Revd  John  South  |  mayd  Minister 
of  ye  Gos  |  pel  for  ye  space  of  40  |  years  :  died  Novr  I4th  | 
1755  in  ye  Both  year  of  |  his  Age. 

This  stone  is  erected  to  the  |  Memory  of  the  Rev.  |  Mark 
Leavenworth  |  Pastor  of  the  first  Church  of  |  Christ  in  Water- 
bury,  who  |  Departed  this  Life  on  the  2oth  |  of  August,  1797, 
in  the  86th  |  year  of  his  age  &  5  8th  of  |  His  Ministry. 

In  Memory  of  Mrs.  |  Ruth,  consort  of  Revd  |  Mark  Leaven- 
worth  |  &  daughter  of  Mr.  |  Jeremy  Peck,  who  died  |  August 
8th  1750  in  the  |  sad  year  of  her  age- 
In  Memory  of  |  Mrs.    Sarah   Leavenworth  |  Relict  of  the  | 
Rev.  Mark  Leaven  worth:  |  who  died  |  May  7th,  1808:  |  aged  82.* 

The  public  services  in  connection  with  the  cele- 
bration occupied  the  larger  part  of  two  days, 
beginning  on  Wednesday  afternoon,  November 
4th.  The  program  distributed  at  the  several  ses- 
sions was  very  nearly  as  follows  : 

*  Thomas  Clark,  to  whose  memory  one  of  these  stones  was  erected,  was 
deacon  of  the  church  from  1728  to  1765. 

Timothy  Hopkins,  whose  remains  were  exhumed  along  with  those  of  the  second 
and  third  pastors,  was  the  father  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Hopkins,  D.  D.,  the  famous 
divine,  from  whom  the  Hopkinsian  school  of  theology  received  its  name,  and 
better  known  to  some  readers  as  the  hero  of  "The  Minister's  Wooing." 

The  headstone  which  bears  the  name  of  John  Southmayd  is  a  new  one,  an 
exact  duplicate  of  the  original,  which,  when  removed,  was  found  to  be  in  several 
pieces.  The  reverse  of  the  new  stone  bears  the  following  inscription  :  "  Replaced  | 
in  loving  memory  |  by  his  |  great-great-great-granddaughter  |  Lucy  Bronson 
Dudley  |  1891."  The  original  stone  is  in  Mrs.  Dudley's  possession. 


ORDER   OF  EXERCISES.  9 

ORDER  OF  EXERCISES. 

WEDNESDAY  AFTERNOON. 

HISTORICAL  SERVICE. 

"I  remember  the  days  of  old  ;  I  meditate  on  all  thy  doings  ;  I  muse 
on  the  work  of  thy  hands." 

ORGAN  PRELUDE,  by  Mr.  A.  S.  Gibson. 

Andante,  op.  122,  no.  2.     G.  Merkel. 
INVOCATION,  by  the  Rev.  Joseph  Anderson,  D.  D. 
HYMN:  "  Be  thou  exalted,  O  my  God." 

READING  OF  SCRIPTURE,  by  the  Rev.  G.  A.  Bryan. 
Became  a  member  of  the  First  Church,  May  5th,  1839. 

PRAYER,  by  the  Rev.  George  Bushnell,  D.  D. 
Pastor  of  the  First  Church  from  1858  to  1864. 

HYMN:  "O  God,  our  help  in  ages  past." 
HISTORICAL  DISCOURSE,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Anderson. 
HYMN:  "  Great  God.  beneath  whose  piercing  eye." 
PRAYER,  by  the  Rev.  J.  G.  Davenport. 
HYMN:  "  Let  saints  below  in  concert  sing." 
BENEDICTION. 

ORGAN  POSTLUDE,  by  Mr.  A.  S.  Gibson. 
Fantasia,  op.  176.     Merkel. 

WEDNESDAY  EVENING. 

SERVICE  FOR  THE  WATERBURY  CHURCHES. 

"  Behold,  how  good  and  how  pleasant  it  is  for  brethren  to  dwell 
together  in  unity." 

ORGAN  PRELUDE,  by  Mr.  A.  S.  Gibson. 

Cantilene  Pastorale,  op.  15,  no.  3.    A.  Guilmant. 


io  BI-CENTENNIAL   CELEBRATION. 

HYMN:  "Thou  Holy  Spirit,  Lord  of  grace." 

READING  OF  SCRIPTURE,  by  the  Rev.  R.  W.  Micou. 
Rector  of  Trinity  Protestant  Episcopal  Church. 

PRAYER,  by  the  Rev.  L.  W.  Holmes. 

Pastor  of  St.  Paul's  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

THE  LORD'S  PRAYER. 

HYMN:  "O  Lord  and  Master  of  us  all." 

WORDS  OF  INTRODUCTION,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Anderson 

ADDRESS,  by  the  Rev.  Edmund  Rowland,  D.  D. 
Rector  of  St.  John's  Protestant  Episcopal  Church. 

ADDRESS,  by  the  Rev.  W.  P.  Elsdon. 

Pastor  of  the  First  Baptist  Church. 

ANTHEM:  "Blessed  be  the  Lord  God  of  Israel." 
Benedictus  in  E. ,  op.  6,  no.  2.     Dudley  Buck. 

ADDRESS,  by  the  Rev.  A.  C.  Eggleston. 

Pastor  of  the  First  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
PAPER,  by  Mr.  D.  F.  Maltby. 

Senior  Deacon  of  the  Second  Congregational  Church. 

HYMN:  "O  God,  our  God,  thou  shinest  here." 

POEM,  by  the  Rev.  J.  G.  Davenport. 

Pastor  of  the  Second  Congregational  Church. 
OFFERING. 

For  the  "  Fund  for  Christian  Visitation  and  Charity." 

OFFERTORY,  by  Mr.  A.  S.  Gibson. 

A  Russian  Romance.     H.  Hoffman. 

PRAYER,  by  the  Rev.  F.  C.  Baker. 

Assistant  Minister  of  the  Second  Congregational  Church. 

HYMN  :  "  Come,  kingdom  of  our  God." 
BENEDICTION. 

ORGAN  POSTLUDE. 

"  On  the  Coast."    Dudley  Buck. 


ORDER   OF  EXERCISES. 
THURSDAY  FORENOON. 

SERVICE  FOR  THE  MOTHER  AND  THE  DAUGHTERS. 

"Behold,  I  and  the  children  which  God  hath  given  me." 
ORGAN  PRELUDE. 

Adagio,  from  Sonata,  op.  148.    J.  Rheinberger. 
HYMN  :  "  See,  from  Zion's  sacred  mountain." 

READING  OF  SCRIPTURE,  by  the  Rev.  F.  E.  Snow. 
Became  a  member  of  the  First  Church,  May  3d,  1868. 

PRAYER,  by  the  Rev.  H.  M.  Hazeltine. 
Pastor  of  the  Church  in  Oxford. 

ADDRESS,  by  the  Rev.  E.  A.  Smith. 

Pastor  of  the  Church  in  Farmington  from  1874  to  1888. 

HYMN  :  "  Daughter  of  Zion,  from  the  dust." 

PAPER,  by  the  Rev.  Robert  Pegrum. 

Pastor  of  the  Church  in  Watertown. 
PAPER,  by  the  Rev.  E.  B.  Hillard. 

Pastor  of  the  Church  in  Plymouth  from  1869  to  1889. 
PAPER,  by  the  Rev.  R.  G.  Bugbee. 

Pastor  of  the  Church  in  Thomaston. 
HYMN  :  "  God  of  our  fathers,  to  thy  throne." 

PAPER,  by  the  Rev.  I.  P.  Smith. 

Pastor  of  the  Church  in  Wolcott. 
PAPER,  by  Mr.  Franklia  Warren. 

A  Deacon  of  the  Church  in  Naugatuck. 
PAPER,  by  the  Rev.  W.  F.  Avery. 

Pastor  of  the  Church  in  Middlebury. 
PAPER,  by  the  Rev.  W.  H.  Phipps. 

Pastor  of  the  Church  in  Prospect. 
HYMN  :  "  O  God  of  Bethel." 
BENEDICTION. 

ORGAN  POSTLUDE. 

Agitato,  Allegro,  from  Sonata,  op.  148.     Rheinberger. 


12  BI-CENTENNIAL   CELEBRATION. 

THURSDAY  AFTERNOON. 

MEMORIAL  SERVICE. 
"  The  righteous  shall  be  had  in  everlasting  remembrance." 

ORGAN  PRELUDE. 

Offertory  in  F,  Ashdown,  no.  83.    E.  Battiste. 

ANTHEM  :  "  Lead,  kindly  Light." 

Music  by  P.  A.  Schnecker. 
READING  OF  'SCRIPTURE,  by  the  Rev.  G.  S.  Dickerman. 

A  descendant  of  the  Rev.  Jeremiah  Peck. 
HYMN  :  "  Rise,  O  my  soul,  pursue  the  path." 
THE  Rev.  JEREMIAH  PECK,  by  Miss  Sarah  J.  Prichard. 
THE  REV.  JOHN  SOUTHMAYD,  by  Miss  Prichard. 
THE    REV.    MARK    LEAVENWORTH,  by   the    Hon.    F. 
J.  Kingsbury. 

A  lineal  descendant  of  the  first  three  pastors. 

HYMN:  "Father,  beneath  thy  sheltering  wing." 

ADDRESS,  by  the  Rev.  H.  B.  Elliot,  D.  D. 

Pastor  of  the  First  Church  from  1845  to  1851. 
ADDRESS,  by  the  Rev.  George  Bushnell,  D.  D. 

Pastor  from  1858  to  1864. 
PRAYER,  by  the  Rev.  G.  A.  Bryan. 
HYMN  :  "  Silently  the  shades  of  evening." 
BENEDICTION. 

ORGAN  POSTLUDE. 

Sonata  in  C,  op.  65,  no.  2.     Mendelssohn. 

THURSDAY  EVENING. 

SERVICE  OF  REMINISCENCE  AND  THANKSGIVING. 
"  The  living,  the  living,  he  shall  praise  thee,  as  I  do  this  day; 

the  father  to  the  children  shall  make  known  thy  truth" 
ORGAN  PRELUDE. 

Toccata  and  Fugue  in  D  minor,  book  4,  no.  4.  J.  S.  Bach. 


ORDER   OF  EXERCISES.  13 

HYMN  :  "  Before  Jehovah's  awful  throne." 

READING  OF  SCRIPTURE,  by  the  Rev.  J.  P.  Hoyt. 

Pastor  of  the  Church  in  Cheshire. 
ANTHEM  :  "  Holy,  holy,  holy,  Lord  God  of  hosts." 

"  Sanctus,"  from  Communion  Service.    Gounod. 
PRAYER,  by  the  Rev.  J.  A.  Freeman. 

Pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  Woodbury. 
THE  LORD'S  PRAYER. 
HYMN  :  "O  mother  dear,  Jerusalem." 

ADDRESS,  by  the  Rev.  J.  L.  R.  Wyckoff. 

Pastor  of  the  North  Church  in  Woodbury. 

ANTHEM  :  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-second  Psalm. 

In  three  numbers.     Composed  by  A.  S.  Gibson. 

OFFERING. 

For  the  new  Congregational  Mission  in  Waterbury. 

OFFERTORY,  by  Mr.  A.  S.  Gibson. 

March  of  the  Magi  Kings.     Dubois. 

SONG  :  "  The  Ninety  and  Nine,"  by  Mr.  M.  C.  Baker. 
Music  by  Campion. 

ADDRESS,  by  the  Rev.  J.  S.  Zelie. 

Pastor  of  the  Church  in  Plymouth. 
MEMORIAL  HYMN  : 

"  O  God,  to  thee  our  fathers  prayed." 

ADDRESS,  by  President  Franklin  Carter,  LL.  D. 

A  son  of  the  First  Church. 
THE  FORTY-SIXTH  PSALM. 

In  seven  numbers.     Dudley  Buck. 
BENEDICTION. 

ORGAN  POSTLUDE.     • 

Choral  March,  introducing  "  Ein'  Feste  Burg."    Buck. 

The  anthem  by  Mr.  Gibson  (Psalm  cxxii.)  was 
composed  for  the  celebration,  and  "  respectfully 
dedicated  to  the  Rev.  Joseph  Anderson,  D.  D." 


I4  BI-CENTENNIAL   CELEBRATION. 

The  "Memorial  Hymn"  sung  at  the  Thursday 
evening  service  was  written  by  Dr.  Anderson. 
It  is  as  follows  : 

MEMORIAL  HYMN. 
O  God  !  to  thee  our  fathers  prayed, 

When  all  the  hills  were  forest-clad  : 
In  lonely  vale,  in  woodland  shade 
They  worshipped,  and  their  hearts  were  glad. 

Here,  day  by  day,  their  task  they  wrought; 

Here,  week  by  week,  thy  courts  they  trod  : 
Their  labor  hath  not  come  to  naught, 

And  they,  gone  from  us,  rest  in  God. 

Gone  !  but  the  echo  of  their  praise 

Is  in  the  air  to-day,  and  we, 
True  to  the  faith  of  olden  days, 

Meet  as  they  met,  to  worship  thee. 

Their  faith  we  follow,  and  their  zeal 

We  emulate,  assured  that  thou, 
Who  leddest  them  in  woe  and  weal, 

Art  nigh,  to  bless  their  children  now. 

Spirit  divine  !  thy  blessing  give  : 
Here,  'midst  the  years,  thy  power  display, 

Till  dying  souls  have  learned  to  live, 
Till  all  the  lost  have  found  their  way. 

Mr.  Gibson  presided  at  the  organ  at  all  the  ser- 
vices of  the  celebration.  The  choir  of  the  church 
— quartette  and  full  chorus — led  the  singing  at  the 
Thursday  evening  service.  The  tenor  solos  were 
taken  by  Mr.  Mark  C.  Baker,  of  Elmira,  N.  Y. 

The  committee  on  hospitality  made  full  pro- 
vision for  the  entertainment  of  visitors  from 
abroad.  Between  the  forenoon  and  afternoon  ser- 
vices of  Thursday,  a  collation  was  furnished  in  the 
parlors  of  the  church,  to  which  about  a  hundred 
guests  sat  down. 


VISITORS.  15 

The  following  is  an  incomplete  list  of  delegates 
from  "  daughter  churches,"  and  other  visitors  from 
out  of  town.  (Names  already  given  in  the  program 
above  are  not  included.) 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  R.  D.  H.  Allen,  Terryville. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  C.  I.  Allen,  Terryville. 

Mrs.  Chauncey  Atwood,  Woodbury. 

Mrs.  Frank  Babcock,  Terryville. 

L.  D.  Baldwin,  Plymouth. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  T.  P.  Baldwin,  Watertown. 

Miss  Sarah  Baldwin,  Watertown. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Andrew  Barnes,  Plantsville. 

A.  S.  Beardsley,  Plymouth. 

Charles  W.  Bidwell,  Watertown. 

Mrs.  Lydia  A.  Bidwell,  Watertown. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Frank  Blakeslee,  Plymouth. 

Miss  Sarah  Bradley,  South  Britain. 

Miss  F.  Bronson,  Middlebury. 

Mrs.  R.  G.  Bugbee,  Thomaston. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  W.  W.  Bull,  Plymouth. 

J.  E.  Burbank,  Hartford. 

Mrs.  George  Bushnell,  New  Haven. 

Mrs.  A.  M.  Camp,  Watertown. 

Mrs.  George  Camp,  Middlebury. 

Miss  Gussie  Camp,  Middlebury. 

G.  S.  Clark,  Middlebury. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  S.  T.  Dayton,  Watertown. 

H.  S.  Dayton,  Watertown. 

Mrs.  C.  L.  Dayton,  Watertown. 

Dr.  and  Mrs.  Marcus  DeForest,  Middlebury. 

Mrs.  Lucy  B.  Dudley,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Mrs.  D.  E.  Eaton,  Naugatuck. 

W.  H.  Farnham,  Morris. 

D.  W.  Fenn,  Middlebury. 

Mrs.  J.  A.  Freeman,  Woodbury. 

Mrs.  E.  C.  French,  Watertown. 

J.  B.  Fox,  Thomaston. 

Mrs.  G.  W.  Gilbert,  Thomaston. 

Mrs.  Charles  Gilbert,  Thomastou. 


BI-CENTENNIAL   CELEBRATION. 

Mrs.  Betsey  Gordon,  Plymouth. 

W.  G.  Hard,  Naugatuck. 

Miss  C.  M.  Hickox,  Cheshire. 

Mrs.  E.  B.  Hillard,  Conway,  Mass. 

Samuel  Holmes,  Montclair,  N.  J. 

W.  B.  Holmes,  Montclair,  N.  J. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  G.  B.  Hotchkiss,  Prospect. 

Mrs.  Mary  R.  Hough,  Wolcott. 

Miss  Sarah  Hungerford,  Watertown. 

Rev.  J.  S.  Ives,  Stratford. 

Mrs.  S.  B.  Ives,  Cheshire. 

Miss  Mary  Ives,  Cheshire. 

Mrs.  Harriet  Lathrop,  Providence,  R.  I. 

M.  J.  Leaven  worth,  Roxbury. 

Rev.  and  Mrs.  Edwin  Leonard,  Morris. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  E.  A.  Lum,  Seymour. 

Mrs.  H.  G.  Marshall,  Cromwell. 

Mrs.  Elizabeth  Munson,  Westville. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  W.  S.  Neales,  Naugatuck. 

S.  H.  Newton,  Naugatuck. 

Edward  Norton  and  son,  Goshen. 

F.  J.  Partree,  Watertown. 
John  Partree,  Watertown. 
H.  C.  Peck,  Northfield. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  S.  H.  Peck,  Watertown 
B.  W.  Pettibone,  Winchester. 
Mrs.  D.  F.  Pierce,  South  Britain. 

G.  B.  Preston,  Middlebury. 
Mrs.  I.  P.  Smith,  Wolcott. 

Miss  Louisa  H.  Thompson,  Milford. 

Rev.  J.  P.  Trowbridge,  Bethlehem. 

Mrs.  Mary  Tuttle,  Middlebury. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  William  Tyler,  Middlebury. 

Miss  Mamie  Tyler,  Middlebury. 

Mrs.  J.  M.  Wardwell,  Plymouth. 

Mrs.  Franklin  Warren,  Naugatuck. 

Mrs.  Huldah  Warren,  Plymouth. 

Mrs.  W.  S.  Webb,  Plymouth. 

Miss  E.  B.  Wells,  Plymouth. 

Mrs.  C.  W.  Wolcott,  Terryville. 


EXPENSES.  17 

George  Wrigold,  Winchester. 
Mrs.  J.  S.  Zelie,  Plymouth. 
Alfredo  Zavalo,  Nicaragua,  C.  A. 

The  expenses  of  the  celebration,  as  reported  by 
the  committee  on  finance,  were  as  follows  : 

For  printing  and  postage,       .         .         .         .  $31.75 

"  decorations 45-55 

"  framing  portraits  of  pastors,           .        .  .    5.45 

"  carting  and  placing  headstones,     .         .  .2.50 

"  collation,  board,  lodging,  etc.,        .        .  53.50 

"  travelling  expenses  of  speakers,     .        .  13.00 

"  music  (soloist,  quartette,  etc.),       .          .  71.80 

"  stenographer, n-45 

Total, $235-.oo 

The  amount  required  to  meet  this  outlay  was 
collected  (from  thirty-seven  persons)  by  Messrs. 
Earl  Smith  and  J.  H.  Bronson,  of  the  finance  com- 
mittee. 


HISTORICAL  DATA. 


II. 

Some  of  the  following  memoranda  were  included 
in  the  four-page  program  distributed  at  the  several 
meetings  of  the  bi-centennial  celebration.  They 
may  serve  a  useful  purpose  in  furnishing  a  histori- 
cal background  for  the  papers  and  addresses  here 
published. 

There  were  eleven  churches  organized  within 
the  present  limits  of  Connecticut  previous  to  the 
organization  of  the  church  in  Farmington.  The 
places  and  dates  of  their  organization  are  as  fol- 
lows : 

Windsor,  1630  ;  Hartford,  1636  ;  New  Haven,  1639  ;  Milford, 
1639 ;  Guilford,  1639  ;  Stratford,  1640  ;  Stamford,  1641  ;  Bran- 
ford,  1646  ;  Saybrook,  1646  ;  Fairfield,  1650  ;  Norwalk,  1652. 

The  church  in  Farmington  was  an  offshoot  from 
the  church  in  Hartford,  and  was  organized  on  the 
1 3th  of  October,  1652,  twelve  years  after  the  settle- 
ment of  the  town. 

During  the  interval  between  the  organization  of 
the  Farmington  church  and  that  of  the  church  in 
Waterbury,  thirteen  churches  were  organized — as 
follows: 

Clinton,  1657  ;  New  London,  1660  ;  Norwich,  1660  ;  Middle- 
town,  1668  ;  Hartford  Second  (the  ' '  South  Church  "),  1670  ; 
Stonington,  1674 ;  Wallingford,  1675  ;  Haddam,  1675  ;  Derby, 
1677  ;  Woodbury,  1679  ;  Simsbury,  1682  j.Enfield,  1688  ;  Wood- 
stock, 1690. 

The  church  in  Waterbury  was  organized  on  the 
26th  of  August,  1691.  In  the  three  Connecticut 
colonies  twenty-five  churches  had  been  established 
previous  to  that  time. 


HISTORICAL  DATA.  19 

The  Congregational  churches  derived  wholly  or 
in  large  part  from  the  First  church  in  Waterbury, 
with  the  dates  of  organization,  are  as  follows.  In 
some  of  these  the  parish  limits,  from  the  first, 
extended  beyond  the  bounds  of  ancient  Mattatuck, 
and  the  meeting-house  (as  in  the  case  of  Oxford 
and  Northfield)  may  have  been  situated  in  another 
town. 

Watertown,  formerly  "  Westbury,"  June  (?),  1739. 

Plymouth,  formerly  "  Northbury,"  May,  1740. 

Oxford,  in  part,  January  gth  (?),  1745. 

Wolcott,  formerly  "  Farmingbury, "  in  part, November  18,1773. 

Naugatuck,  formerly  "Salem  Society,"  February  22nd,  1781. 

Northfield,  in  part,  January  ist,  1795. 

Middlebury,  formerly  "West  Farms,"  February  loth,  1796. 

Prospect,  formerly  "  Columbia,"  in  part,  May  i4th,  1798. 

Thomaston,  formerly  "Plymouth  Hollow,"  December  7, 1837. 

Terryville,  January  2nd,  1838. 

Waterbury,  Second,  April  4th,  1852. 

Eagle  Rock  (Reynolds  Bridge,  Thomaston),  October  29,  1879.* 

Of  these  churches,  six  (namely,  Watertown, 
Oxford,  Northfield,  Wolcott,  Middlebury  and  Pros- 
pect) are  situated  in  farming  communities  and 
have  suffered  from  the  transition  from  an  agricul- 
tural to  a  manufacturing  state  through  which 
Connecticut  has  passed  during  the  present  century. 
The  church  in  Plymouth  belongs  perhaps  to  the 
same  class.  The  membership  of  these  seven 
churches  on  the  ist  of  January,  1891,  numbered  739 
(in  471  families).  At  the  same  date  the  member- 
ship of  the  other  six  numbered  2169.  The  total 
membership  (that  is,  of  enrolled  communicants) 
was  2908  ;  the  whole  number  of  families,  2446. 

In  addition  to  the  two  Congregational  churches 
in  Waterbury,  there  are  within  the  present  limits 

*  A  Swedish  Congregational  church  was  organized  in  Thomaston,  October  27, 1891. 


20 


HISTORICAL   DATA. 


of  the  town  two  Protestant  Episcopal,  four  Metho- 
dist Episcopal,  a  Baptist,  a  German  Lutheran,  an 
Adventist,  an  African  Methodist  and  four  Roman 
Catholic  churches.  There  are  also  several  denomi- 
national and  "  union "  chapels  at  which  religious 
services  are  statedly  held. 

The  First  church  has  had  fourteen  pastors,  besides 
several  ministers  who  have  served  as  pastors  for 
short  periods.  Their  names  and  the  dates  of  their 
settlement  and  dismission  are  as  follows  : 

Jeremiah  Peck,  1691  (ministry  began  1689)  to  i6qg. 

John  Southmayd,  1705  to  1739. 

Mark  Leavenworth,  1740  to  1797. 

Edward  Porter,  1795  to  1798. 

Holland  Weeks,  1799  to  1806. 

Luke  Wood,  1808  to  1817. 

Daniel  Crane,  1821  to  1825. 

Joel  R.  Arnold,  1831  to  1836. 

Henry  N.  Day,  1836  to  1840. 

David  Root,  1841  to  1844. 

Henry  B.  Elliot,  1845  to  1851. 

William  W.  Woodworth,  1852  to  1858. 

George  Bushnell,  1858  to  1865. 

Joseph  Anderson,  since  February  i2th,  1865. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Asahel  Nettleton  served  as  preacher 
in  1815  and  1816,  during  the  pastorate  of  Mr. 
Wood.  The  Rev.  Henry  Benedict  was  acting  pastor 
in  1826  and  1827,  and  the  Rev.  Jason  Atwater  in 
1829  and  1830.  The  only  ex-pastors  now  living  are 
Dr.  Elliot  and  Dr.  Bushnell. 


On  the  z6th  of  August,  1891,  the  occurrence  of  the 
two  hundredth  birthday  of  the  First  church  was 
publicly  recognized  in  the  "  Waterbury  American," 
in  an  appropriate  article  bearing  the  well-known 


HISTORICAL   DATA.  21 

initials  of  Miss  Sarah  J.  Prichard.  As  a  part  of  the 
record  of  the  celebration — to  say  nothing  of  its 
intrinsic  interest — it  seems  proper  to  reproduce  it 
here. 

THE  BI-CENTENNIAL  OF  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  WATERBURY. 

Two  hundred  years  ago,  this  day,  was  organized  the  First 
church  of  Christ  in  Waterbury.  To-day  let  every  Protestant 
church  within  the  ancient  township,  whether  Congregational, 
Protestant  Episcopal,  Methodist  Episcopal  or  Baptist ;  whether 
in  Waterbury,  in  Plymouth,  in  Thomaston,  in  Watertown,  in 
Naugatuck,  in  Prospect,  in  Wolcott,  in  Middlebury  or  in 
Oxford,  look  with  tender  and  affectionate  regard  toward  the 
old  First  church  ;  for  however  true  to  heaven  their  spires  may 
point,  they  one  and  all  point  thither  by  the  way  of  the  church 
that  was  organized  on  the  26th  of  August,  1691. 

Here,  for  more  than  fifty  years,  and  here  alone,  came  every 
inhabitant,  every  man,  woman  and  child,  to  worship.  Hither 
wended  their  way  every  Andrews  or  Andrus,  every  Barnes 
and  Bronson,  every  Carpenter,  Carrington  and  Clark ;  every 
Gaylord,  Gridley,  Hancox,  Hickox,  Hopkins  and  Judd,  and 
every  Porter,  Richards,  Richardson,  Scott,  Scovill,  Standly  and 
Upson;  and  even  the  Warners  and  the  Wei  tons  were  good 
and  staunch  Congregationalists  for  two  generations  ;  the  first 
adherent  to  the  Church  of  England  in  the  township  having 
migrated  hither  from  New  Haven  when  the  town  was  more 
than  two-score  years  old — "  Bishop"  James  Brown. 

It  is  for  this  and  other  reasons  that  the  coming  celebration 
of  the  organization  of  this  our  mother  church  (by  august  per- 
mission of  the  General  Court)  should  be  an  occasion  of  deep 
and  tender  interest  not  only  to  the  churches  within  the  borders 
of  the  original  township  which  still  bear  the  family  church - 
name  of  Congregationalist,  but  to  all  the  descendants  of  the 
men  and  women  who  had  part  in  it. 

It  was  on  March  2ist,  1689,  that  the  proprietors  agreed  to  be 
at  the  expense  of  transporting  the  Rev.  Jeremiah  Peck  and  his 
family  and  cattle  from  Greenwich  to  Waterbury.  We  there- 
fore may  conclude  that  he  had  been  with  the  people  nearly,  if 
not  quite,  two  years  before  the  formation  of  the  church  and 


22  HISTORICAL  DATA. 

his  ordination.  During  this  time  Mr.  Peck  could  not  have  per- 
formed the  functions  of  an  ordained  minister  of  the  church, 
notwithstanding  former  ordinations  ;  hence  children  were  car- 
ried for  baptism  to  the  church  at  Farmington. 

It  does  not  satisfactorily  appear  that  the  Rev.  Jeremiah  Peck 
ever  had  a  meeting  house  to  officiate  in,  and  we  are  led,  in  our 
thoughts  of  that  day,  up  to  the  minister's  house,  that  stood 
hard  by  St.  John's  church  and  on  the  present  site  of  Mrs.  John 
C.  Booth's  residence,  in  the  timbers  of  which,  it  is  thought,  are 
mingled  portions  of  that  house,  built  with  pious  care  by  the 
first  men  of  Waterbury  for  the  minister  who  should  come  to 
dwell  with  them  ;  and  that  is,  in  all  probability,  the  place  where 
the  organization  of  the  church  took  place. 

It  was  the  great  event  of  that  period  to  the  young,  almost 
infant,  town  of  Waterbury.  In  its  results  and  outgrowths  it 
has  continued  to  be  the  most  important  event  that  ever  oc- 
curred within  the  town,  and  it  is  due  to  the  past  and  the  pres- 
ent alike  that  the  celebration  should  be  warmly  and  cordially 
participated  in  by  every  church  and  town  within  the  range  of 
ancient  Waterbury. 

s.  j.  P. 

August  26th,  1891. 


I. 

THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  WATERBURY: 
AN  HISTORICAL  SURVEY. 


THE    FIRST    CHURCH    IN    WATERBURY : 
AN    HISTORICAL    SURVEY. 

BY    THE    REV.    JOSEPH    ANDERSON,    D.   D. 

We  shall  soon  be  celebrating  the  four  hundredth 
anniversary  of  the  discovery  of  America.  The 
organization  of  the  First  church  in  Waterbury  took 
place  just  midway  between  that  event  and  the 
present  time.  A  hundred  and  twenty-eight  years 
had  elapsed,  after  Columbus  first  set  foot  in  the 
new  world,  before  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims  at 
Plymouth;  a  hundred  and  forty-eight  years,  before 
the  settlement  of  Farmington  took  place,  and 
a  hundred  and  eighty-five  years  before  the  settle- 
ment of  Mattatuck.  Nine  years  more  passed  by 
before  Mattatuck  was  incorporated  as  a  town  and 
called  Waterbury,  and  five  more  were  added  before 
the  Rev.  Jeremiah  Peck  and  his  townsmen  sought 
and  obtained  permission  to  "  embody  in  church 
estate." 

During  this  long  period,  while  most  of  North 
America  remained  an  unbroken  wilderness,  what 
had  the  civilized  world  been  doing?  And  what 
was  it  doing  in  1691  ? 

The  invention  of  printing,  of  the  mariner's  com- 
pass, and  of  gunpowder,  had  already  taken  place  at 
the  time  of  the  discovery,  and  with  the  aid  of  these 
the  movement  known  as  the  Renaissance  was  stead- 
ily advancing  toward  a  grand  culmination.  The 
Renaissance  was  not  only  a  revival  of  learning,  it 
was  a  new  birth  of  art  and  science;  it  brought  in  a 


26  THE  FIRST  CHURCH.  IN  WATERBURY : 

new  era  in  politics  and  religion.  Just  twenty-five 
years  after  Columbus's  first  voyage,  Luther  nailed 
his  "  theses"  to  the  church  door  of  Wittemberg,  and 
the  Protestant  Reformation  was  begun.  In  1526 
Tyndal's  English  New  Testament  was  published, 
and  by  this  time  Protestantism  was  making  rapid 
headway  in  the  countries  of  northern  Europe.  In 
southern  Europe  the  ancient  church  of  Rome  not 
only  held  its  own;  it  gave  new  and  more  explicit 
expression  to  its  doctrines  and  laws  through  the 
Council  of  Trent,  and  through  the  labors  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus  reached  out  into  all  the  known 
world  in  aggressive  missionary  effort.  The  national 
antagonisms  produced  by  the  breaking  up  of  the 
religious  unity  of  Europe  led  on,  in  the  course  of  a 
century,  to  the  Thirty  Years'  war.  This  was  ter- 
minated in  1648  by  the  peace  of  Westphalia,  in 
which  the  political  rights  of  the  reformed  churches 
and  the  Protestant  princes  of  Europe  were  at 
length  recognized. 

In  England  the  break  with  the  ancient  church 
was  at  first  a  matter  of  royal  caprice;  but  the 
people  were  ready  for  a  change,  and  accepted  the 
Protestant  doctrines  in  a  very  serious  way.  The 
severe  measures  of  Queen  Mary  failed  to  bring  the 
nation  back  to  Rome,  and  under  Elizabeth,  in  1570, 
the  final  rupture  with  the  Roman  church  took  place. 
A  great  diversity  of  views,  however,  had  been 
developed  among  the  English  Protestants,  and 
when  Elizabeth  attempted  to  compel  uniformity, 
then  Puritanism  began  to  take  visible  form.  Among 
the  non-conformists  there  were  several  grades  of 
Puritans,  some  of  them  holding  much  more  radical 
views  in  regard  to  church  government  than  others. 


AN  mSTORlCAL  SURVEY.  27 

Soon  after  the  ascension  of  James  I.,  some  of  these 
sought  escape  from  persecution  by  removing  to 
Holland,  and  afterwards  to  America.  Others,  of  a 
less  radical  type,  emigrated  directly  from  England 
to  Massachusetts  Bay  in  1628  and  1630,  and  within 
ten  years  from  this  twenty  thousand  Englishmen 
had  taken  up  their  abode  in  New  England.  Among 
these  were  the  men  who  settled  Hartford  and 
Farmington. 

The  year  1640,  in  which  a  settlement  at  Farming- 
ton  was  begun,  was  the  year  when  the  Long  Parlia- 
ment began  its  sessions.  From  that  time  the 
fortunes  of  Puritanism  in  the  mother  country  were 
strangely  varied.  In  the  Revolution  under  Crom- 
well, and  in  the  Commonwealth,  independency 
triumphed;  but  this  was  only  until  1660.  Under 
the  reign  of  Charles  II.  and  James  II.,  Puritanism 
of  every  kind  was  at  a  disadvantage,  and  the 
Puritan  colonies  of  New  England  had  to  bear  their 
share  of  hardships.  From  1662  onward,  for  twenty- 
five  years,  Massachusetts  contended  against  the 
crown.  The  attempt  was  made  to  wrest  from  the 
colonies  their  charters  and  treat  them  as  conquered 
territories.  In  1686  James  II.  sent  over  Sir  Edmund 
Andros  to  act  as  governor-general  of  New  England. 
The  following  year,  Connecticut  having  refused  to 
recognize  his  authority,  he  visited  Hartford  to 
assert  it  personally.  In  an  interview  with  the  chief 
men  of  the  colony,  the  charter  of  Connecticut  was 
brought  into  the  room;  but  the  lights  were  sud- 
denly extinguished,  and  when  they  were  lighted 
again  the  charter  was  not  to  be  found.  In  the  in- 
terval (so  the  story  goes)  it  had  been  hidden  away 
in  a  hollow  oak.  '  It  is  difficult  to  say  what  the 


28  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  WATERBURT: 

course  of  things  in  New  England  would  have  been, 
had  not  another  revolution  taken  place  in  England. 
When  the  news  of  the  landing  of  William  of  Orange 
at  Torbay  reached  Boston,  Governor  Andros  was 
immediately  imprisoned,  and  the  General  Court 
resumed  its  sessions  (May,  1689)  as  under  the  old 
charter.  In  Connecticut  the  old  charter  was  again 
brought  forth,  and  a  new  era  in  the  colonial  history 
was  entered  upon. 

This  year  1689 — in  which  William  and  Mary 
ascended  the  throne,  and  the  grand  European 
Alliance  was  formed,  in  which  England  was 
included — was  the  year  the  Rev.  Jeremiah  Peck 
began  to  preach  in  Waterbury,  the  settlement 
being  then  some  twelve  years  old.  I  do  not  know 
that  the  plodding  planters  of  Mattatuck  kept  much 
trace  of  the  great  events  beyond  sea,  but,  as  you 
perceive,  these  events  were  not  without  signifi- 
cance even  for  them,  here  on  the  edge  of  the 
wilderness.  In  the  chronological  annals  prefixed 
to  Green's  "  Short  History  of  the  English  People," 
the  section  which  begins  with  the  year  1689  is 
entitled,  "  Modern  England."  By  aid  of  these 
events  at  which  we  have  been  glancing,  and  such 
as  these,  the  planters  of  Mattatuck  had  been  lifted 
into  a  new  era  of  the  world's  history.  They  belong 
not  to  the  mediaeval  time,  but  to  our  time.  At  this 
date,  the  authorized  version  of  the  Bible  had  been 
in  circulation  eighty  years;  Shakespeare  had  been 
seventy-five  years  dead  and  Milton  seventeen;  New- 
ton's "  Principia  "  had  seen  the  light.  So  that  we 
must  not  look  upon  these  ancestors  as  very  ancient. 
If  from  what  we  know  of  them  they  seem  so  to  us, 
perhaps  it  is  because  they  were  apparently  so  far 


AN  HISTORICAL  SURVEY.  29 

out  of  the  current  of  the  world's  grand  events, 
leading"  a  life  which  looked  like  a  mere  episode  in 
the  world's  broad  history.  But  they  were  not  out 
of  the  current;  they  were  in  fact  giving  it  direc- 
tion. 

The  good  people  who  settled  Farmington  were 
members  of  the  church  in  Hartford,  of  which  the 
eminent  Thomas  Hooker  was  the  pastor.  The 
Farmington  church  was  organized  in  1652,  and  its 
first  pastor  was  Mr.  Hooker's  son-in-law,  and  the 
second  his  son  Samuel,  who  ministered  there  from 
1661  to  1697.  It  was  under  the  ministry  of  these 
two  men  that  the  proprietors  of  Waterbury  grew 
up  to  manhood  and  received  their  religious  educa- 
tion. Those  who  were  over  forty-five  years  of  age 
at  the  time  of  the  settlement  of  Mattatuck  must 
have  been  born  in  England  ;  those  who  were  under 
thirty-seven  were  probably  natives  of  Farmington. 
It  is  interesting,  therefore,  to  know  that  the  Rev. 
Samuel  Hooker  was  a  minister  worthy  of  his  noble 
parentage.  He  is  described  as  an  "  animated  and 
pious  divine."  It  is  said,  too,  that  he  was  "an 
excellent  preacher,  his  composition  good,  his 
address  pathetic,  warm  and  engaging."  He  had 
"three  things  to  do  with  his  sermons  before  he 
delivered  them  in  public — to  write  them,  commit 
them  unto  his  memory  and  get  them  into  his 
heart."  This  was  a  good  ministry  under  which  to 
grow  up,  and  the  influence  of  the  church  itself  was 
doubtless  in  harmony  with  that  of  its  pastor. 
Ex-President  Porter,  describing  the  life  of  the 
Farmington  settlers,  says  : 

The  Sabbath  was  the  great  and  central  day  of  the  week. 
As  the  drum  beat  its  wonted  and  pleasant  sound  of  invitation, 


3o  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  WATERBURY: 

they  resorted  to  the  house  of  worship  with  cheerful  steps,  to 
be  roused  or  comforted  by  the  fervent  Hooker.  .  .  .  From 
the  house  of  God  they  return  at  evening,  to  spend  the  remain- 
ing hours  of  sacred  rest  in  joyful  reflection  upon  the  truth 
there  heard,  doubly  grateful  for  a  church  such  as  they  loved, 
though  it  were  in  the  wilderness.  There  they  instruct  their 
children  with  strict  and  judicious  care,  and  close  the  day  by 
committing  themselves  and  theirs  to  the  care  of  the  Almighty. 
.  .  .  .  Day  by  day  through  the  week  the  instruction  of 
the  children  is  prosecuted  in  patriarchal  simplicity  and  with 
patriarchal  faithfulness.  The  sacred  presence  of  parental 
restraint  follows  the  child  wherever  he  goes.  He  enters  not  a 
door  where  there  is  not  the  same  subduing  influence ;  while 
law  with  its  majestic  presence  fills  the  very  atmosphere  in 
which  he  breathes.* 

If  under  such  training  as  this  the  settlers  of  Matta- 
tuck  had  failed  to  grow  up  into  virtuous  and  noble 
men  and  women,  who  could  retain  his  faith  in  the 
value  of  Christian  nurture  ? 

It  does  not  appear  that  a  large  proportion  of 
these  settlers — of  the  men,  at  any  rate — were 
church  members;  but  they  could  not  come  forth 
from  such  an  atmosphere  as  that  in  which  they  had 
lived  so  long — in  fact,  they  could  not  be  true  sons 
of  the  Puritans — and  not  cherish  the  utmost 
respect  for  religion,  and  an  earnest  desire  to  make 
full  provision  for  the  religious  wants  of  the  new 
community.  And  such  provision  was  made.  By  a 
requirement  in  the  original  articles,  three  "  pro- 
prieties" of  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  each 
were  secured  for  "public  and  pious  uses."  By  a 
subsequent  vote  of  the  town  one  of  these  was  set 
apart  for  the  minister,  who  was  allowed  a  "  larger 
interest"  than  any  other  man  in  the  community 

*Pp.  36,  37  of    "A  Historical  Discourse  in   Commemoration  of  the    Origina' 
Settlement  at  Farmington  in  1640.     By  Noah  Porter,  Jr.     Hartford,  1841." 


AN  HISTORICAL  SURVEY.  3! 

But  in  addition  to  this  the  committee  of  the  settle- 
ment set  apart  in  1679  "  a  house  lot  of  two  acres  " 
and  other  pieces  of  land  in  different  parts  of  the 
town,  amounting  in  all  to  more  than  twenty  acres, 
to  "  be  and  remain  for  the  occupation  and  improve- 
ment of  the  minister  of  said  town  forever." 

That  so  much  should  have  been  done  for  the 
maintenance  of  religion,  and  that  at  the  same  time 
the  organization  of  a  church  should  be  delayed  for 
fourteen  years,  is  to  be  explained  by  various  con- 
siderations. For  some  time  the  settlement  was 
unfortunate  and  unpromising.  The  community 
did  not  grow  as  the  proprietors  had  hoped,  and 
within  nine  or  ten  years  from  its  foundation  some 
of  the  foremost  men  began  to  remove  from  it.  In 
fact,  for  thirty-five  years  the  settlers  struggled  on, 
amidst  Indian  wars,  sicknesses  and  floods,  and  at 
the  end  were  scarcely  more  in  number  than  during 
the  first  eight  years  of  the  settlement.  But  this  is 
not  all.  There  were  religious  conditions  which 
may  have  led  to  a  postponement  of  action.  The 
first  half  century  of  New  England  history  had  wit- 
nessed a  great  change  in  the  religious  life  of  the 
people.  The  early  immigrants  were  almost  with- 
out exception  church  members,  and  conspicuous 
for  their  Puritan  piety.  But,  notwithstanding  the 
rigid  training  already  alluded  to,  the  children  did 
not  uniformly  grow  up  pious,  while  among  the 
later  immigrants  there  was  greater  diversity  of 
beliefs  and  practices  than  among  those  who  came 
first.  To  secure  political  rights,  which  in  all  the 
colonies  were  somewhat  dependent  on  church  mem- 
bership, compromises  were  resorted  to,  such  as  the 
"half-way  covenant  ";  the  number  of  actual  church 


32  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  WATERBURY : 

members  diminished  (at  least  relatively),  and  for- 
malism in  the  churches  took  the  place  of  the 
solemn  and  substantial  piety  of  the  earlier  period. 
The  decline  of  religion  became  more  marked  from 
the  time  of  King  Philip's  war,  which  was  contem- 
poraneous with  the  first  settlement  of  Mattatuck, 
and  aroused  so  much  anxiety  that  the  General 
Court  called  upon  the  ministers  of  the  colony  to 
take  special  pains  to  instruct  the  people  in  the 
duties  of  religion  and  to  stir  up  and  awaken  them 
to  repentance  and  a  reformation  of  manners.  As 
might  have  been  expected,  a  day  of  fasting  and 
prayer  was  appointed.  But  the  General  Court  of 
Massachusetts  went  still  further,  and  (in  1679) 
called  together  a  synod  of  the  churches  to  consider 
"  what  are  the  evils  that  have  provoked  the  Lord 
to  bring  his  judgments  on  New  England,  and 
what  is  to  be  done  that  these  evils  may  be 
reformed."  The  report  of  the  committee  appointed 
to  frame  an  answer  to  these  queries  speaks  of  the 
neglect  of  church-fellowship,  indifference  to  bap- 
tism, the  spread  of  profaneness,  the  desecration  of 
the  Sabbath,  the  want  of  family  discipline,  law- 
suits, promise-breaking,  strivings  after  worldly 
gain,  intemperance  in  bodily  enjoyments,  immod- 
est apparel  and  irreverent  behavior  and  inattention 
in  the  house  of  God  during  public  worship.  "  In 
Scripture  we  read  of  but  one  man,"  says  the  com- 
mittee, solemnly,  "  that  slept  at  a  sermon,  and  that 
sin  had  like  to  have  cost  him  his  life  :  Acts  xx.  9." 
It  was  in  such  a  period  as  this  (and  the  picture  of 
it  is  as  lurid  as  if  it  had  been  painted  two  hundred 
years  later)  that  the  colony  from  Farmington  set- 
tled in  the  valley  of  the  Naugatuck.  That  these 


AN  HISTORICAL  SURVEY.  33 

people  should  have  made  the  necessary  material 
preparations  for  the  establishment  of  religion  and 
the  ministry  among  them  was  a  matter  of  course, 
perhaps  a  matter  of  compulsion;  but  it  did  not 
follow  that  the  organization  of  a  church  must 
immediately  take  place. 

The  Rev.  Jeremiah  Peck  had  been  a  resident  of 
Waterbury  for  more  than  two  years  before  the  first 
step  toward  a  formal  organization  of  a  church  was 
taken,  by  applying  to  the  General  Court  for  per- 
mission to  "  embody.  "  "  We,  at  least  some  of,  the 
inhabitants  of  Waterbury,  being  by  the  goodness  of 
God  inclined  and  desirous  to  promote  the  concerns 
of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  in  this  place  by  coming  into 
church  order,  ....  humbly  request  the  consent 
of  the  General  Court  now  assembling,  that  we  may, 
as  God  shall  give  us  cause  and  assistance,  proceed 
to  the  gathering  of  a  Congregational  church  in  this 
place."  So  ran  the  application,  written  by  Mr. 
Peck's  somewhat  pedantic  pen;  and  the  response 
was  as  hearty  as  could  have  been  wished:  "This 
Court  do  freely  grant  them  their  request,  and  shall 
freely  encourage  them  in  their  beginnings,  and 
desire  the  Lord  to  give  them  good  success  therein." 
This  was  at  the  May  session,  1691.  It  appears  from 
a  letter  from  Mr.  Peck's  successor,  the  Rev.  John 
Southmayd,  to  the  Rev.  Thomas  Prince,  of  Boston, 
that  the  church  was  organized  and  Mr.  Peck 
installed  as  its  pastor  on  the  26th  of  August,  follow- 
ing. At  that  date  the  churches  within  the  present 
limits  of  Connecticut  numbered  twenty-five. 

From  the  same  letter  we  learn  that  the  number 
of  male  members  in  the  new  organization  was 
seven;  but  of  this  leading  event  in  the  history  of 


34          THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  WATERBURT : 

the  Waterbury  church  we  have  no  further  informa- 
tion that  is  very  definite.  One  of  these  men  was 
undoubtedly  Isaac  Bronson,  who  with  Mr.  Peck 
signed  the  application  addressed  to  the  General 
Court.  "  There  can  be  but  little  doubt,"  says  Dr. 
Henry  Bronson,  the  historian  of  Waterbury,*  "  that 
John  Stanley  and  Thomas  Judd,  senior,  were  also 
of  the  number."  Other  male  church  members  in 
the  settlement  were  Obadiah  Richards,  Abraham 
Andruss,  John  Hopkins  (probably),  Joseph  Gaylord, 
Thomas  Judd,  Jr.,  Benjamin  Barnes  and  Thomas 
Judd,  son  of  William.  All  these,  except  Hopkins, 
had  sat  under  the  ministry  of  Samuel  Hooker.  The 
last  named  four  had  been  admitted  to  church 
membership  at  Farmington  within  two  years,  two 
of  them  indeed  within  a  few  months.  But  it  would 
have  been  in  keeping  with  the  method  adopted  in 
New  Haven  and  elsewhere  if  these  twelve  men  had 
selected  seven  of  their  own  number  as  specially 
well  fitted  to  carry  spiritual  burdens,  and  had  made 
them  the  "  seven  pillars  of  the  church."  We  are 
informed  by  Trumbull  in  his  "History  of  Connecti- 
cut "  that  a  church  was  organized  by  subscribing 
to  a  confession  of  faith  and  a  covenant  upon  a  day 
of  fasting  and  prayer.  "  Neighboring  elders  and 
churches  were  present  on  these  occasions,  assisted 
in  the  public  solemnities  and  gave  their  consent."f 
If  the  organization  of  the  Waterbury  church  took 
place  on  the  26th  of  August,  it  must  have  been  on 
a  Sunday  ;  but  provision  must  somehow  have  been 
made  for  the  attendance  of  delegates  from  neigh- 

*"  The  History  of  Waterbury,  Connecticut;    the   Original  Township;   with  an 
Appendix  of  Biography,  etc.     By  Henry  Bronson,  M.  D.    Waterbury,  1858." 
tVol.  I,  p.  285. 


AN  HISTORICAL  SURVEY.  35 

boring  churches — perhaps  Farmington  and  Wood- 
bury  and  Derby  and  New  Haven,  and  possibly 
Milford  and  Hartford — and  the  usual  discourse 
must  have  been  preached,  and  the  initiatory  acts 
solemnly  gone  through  with.  The  minister's  house, 
which  Mr.  Peck  had  already  been  occupying  for 
some  time,  was  probably  large  enough  to  accom- 
modate the  worshippers  who  came  together, 
without  the  slightest  inconvenience. 

Such  was  the  origin  of  the  First  church  in  Water- 
bury,  and  such  was  the  world  in  which  it  was 
established.  The  town  as  originally  incorporated 
(in  May,  1686)  measured  about  seventeen  miles 
from  north  to  south  and  nine  miles  from  east  to 
west  through  its  widest  part.  It  embraced  an  area 
of  one  hundred  and  thirty-three  square  miles  or 
eighty-five  thousand  acres.  And  since  in  those 
days  parish  and  town  were  one  and  the  same,  these 
were  the  dimensions  of  the  parish.  It  was  a  large 
piece  of  territory  and  suggested  large  opportuni- 
ties; but  everything  else  was  small.  The  population 
was  scanty,  the  means  of  subsistence  were  limited 
and  uncertain,  and  the  life  of  the  people,  barring 
their  outlook  toward  God  and  heaven,  was  as 
narrow  and  hard  as  we  can  well  imagine.  I  wonder 
whether  these  men  and  women  who  had  turned 
their  backs  upon  the  European  world  and  had  left 
it  so  far  behind  them,  with  its  great  evils  and  its 
great  sorrows,  and  the  younger  ones  who  knew  it 
only  by  occasional  and  brief  report,  troubled  them- 
selves about  what  was  going  on  across  the  sea, 
except  when,  now  and  then,  it  concerned  their 
personal  interests.  I  wonder  whether  they  gave 
much  thought  even  to  colonial  affairs,  save  when 


36          THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  WATERS URT : 

these  were  forced  upon  their  attention  by  some 
threatening  of  Indian  outbreak  or  by  "  the  soldiers 
passing  to  and  fro."  "  We  live  remotely,"  they  said, 
in  one  of  their  appeals  for  aid,  "  in  a  corner  of  the 
wilderness,  which  in  our  affairs  costs  us  much 
charge,  pains  and  hardships."  The  clearing  away 
of  the  forest,  the  breaking  of  the  new  soil,  the  pro- 
viding shelter  for  themselves  and  their  cattle,  must 
have  engrossed  time  and  effort  and  thought.  That 
they  should  have  done  so  much  for  the  support  of 
the  ministry  and  for  schools  and  in  due  time  should 
have  proceeded  to  erect  a  meeting-house  for  the 
community,  is  much  to  their  credit,  even  if  they 
failed  in  broad  views  of  the  world  behind  them 
or  were  lacking  in  novel  philosophic  theories. 

The  theories,  however,  and  the  larger  life  came 
all  in  good  time  ;  for  the  germs  and  principles  of 
true  growth  were  in  these  men.  It  was  a  very  vital 
thing,  this  Anglo-Saxon  stock  that  had  been  trans- 
planted so  strangely  to  a  new  world,  and  it  was  sure 
to  become  great  and  mighty. 

Even  if  I  had  referred  only  in  the  briefest 
way  to  the  birthday  which  we  are  celebrating,  I 
should  still  have  had  but  scant  space  in  which  to 
narrate  the  story  of  two  hundred  years.  I  cannot 
paint  a  picture,  I  can  only  sketch  an  outline. 
Details  give  a  certain  kind  of  interest,  but  on  a 
small  canvas  there  is  not  room  for  details,  and  we 
must  aim  at  a  general  effect.  It  will  perhaps  help 
us  to  see  things  more  clearly  if  we  recognize  certain 
large  divisions  in  this  period  of  two  hundred  years 
through  which  our  church  has  lived,  and  fix  our 
thought  upon  certain  familiar  lines  of  life  and 
action.  Let  us  remember,  then,  that  there  was  a 


AN  HISTORICAL  SURVEY.  37 

period  of  small  beginnings,  which  was  also  a  period 
of  hardships  and  hopelessness ;  that  this  was 
followed  by  a  period  of  improvement,  in  which 
plantation  and  church  became  thoroughly  estab- 
lished. Then,  about  1740,  came  the  era  of  disin- 
tegration, when  the  old  parish  was  divided  into 
societies,  and  new  centres  of  life  were  developed  at 
points  remote  from  the  old  centre  of  the  town  ; 
when  ecclesiastical  dissent  also  began  to  manifest 
itself  and  to  demand  legal  recognition.  Then 
came  the  Revolutionary  period,  the  significance  of 
which  to  the  community  and  to  the  church  can  not 
be  easily  over-estimated,  and  following  closely  upon 
that,  the  period  of  religious  decadence.  Here  in 
Waterbury  the  era  of  renewed  prosperity  in  church 
life  cannot  be  said  to  have  begun  until  1816,  when 
the  famous  Dr.  Asahel  Nettleton  preached  here, 
with  his  well-known  evangelistic  fervor,  for  nearly 
a  year.*  We  cannot  say  that  it  has  continued  unin. 
terrupted  through  the  seventy-five  years  that  have 
since  elapsed,  but  it  has  been  great  enough  to  place 
this  latest  era  in  contrast  with  all  that  preceded  it. 
It  has  been  an  era  not  only  of  renewed  prosperity 
in  temporal  and  spiritual  things,  but  an  era  of  good 
feeling  and  mutual  toleration,  of  missions  and 
multiplied  churches,  an  era  of  progress  and  hope. 

In  the  early  life  of  every  old  New  England  parish 
there  are  two  concrete  facts  which  stand  forth  con- 
spicuous, the  minister  and  the  meeting-house. 
They  are  as  prominent  in  the  history  of  the  Water- 
bury  church  as  elsewhere,  and  as  well  worth  con- 

*See  "  Memoir  of  the  Life  and  Character  of  Rev.  Asahel  Nettleton,  D.  D.  By 
Bennet  Tyler,  D.  D.  Hartford:  1844."  The  account  of  Nettleton's  work  in 
Waterbury  is  on  pp.  92-94. 


38          THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  WATERBURY : 

sideration,  if  we  would  learn  what  the  church 
signified  in  the  early  days  and  how  the  people 
lived  and  struggled. 

I  have  already  quoted  an  appeal  made  by  Water- 
bury  for  state  aid,  in  which  it  is  said,  "We  live 
remotely  in  a  corner  of  the  wilderness."  In  this 
appeal,  which  prayed  for  assistance  in  erecting  a 
meeting  house,  special  hardships  are  spoken  of : 
"The  providence  of  God,  and  that  in  several  ways, 
hath  brought  us  low — by  losses  of  the  fruits  of  the 
earth,  losses  in  our  living  stock,  but  especially  by 
much  sickness  among  us  for  the  space  of  the  last 
four  years."  The  troubles  here  referred  to  were 
greater  even  than  those  to  which  new  settlements 
are  commonly  exposed.  In  the  same  year  in  which 
this  petition  was  presented — it  was  a  few  weeks 
after  the  organization  of  the  church — the  "great 
flood  "  had  occurred,  a  disaster  which  devastated 
the  settlement  and  came  near  destroying  it  alto- 
gether. But  without  this  misfortune  there  would 
have  been  enough  to  discourage  the  inhabitants  ; 
for  it  was  a  time  of  war,  and  many  of  the  evils  of 
war  were  familiar  to  them.  From  1689  to  1713  there 
was  war  between  England  and  France,  except  for 
about  four  years,  and  the  colonies  were  necessarily 
involved  in  it.  Crops  were  destroyed  by  hostile 
savages,  cattle  were  driven  away,  dwellings  were 
burned,  men  and  women  were  murdered  or  carried 
captive  ;  so  that  for  a  series  of  years  the  settlements 
were  kept  in  a  state  of  alarm.  During  this  whole 
period  Waterbury  was  a  frontier  town,  and  espe- 
cially exposed  to  depredations.  It  does  not  appear 
that  it  was  actually  invaded  except  in  one  instance, 
but  it  was  impossible  to  avoid  anxiety,  and  the 


AN  HISTORICAL  SURVEY.  39 

daily  life  of  this  peace-loving  people  was  shaped 
with  reference  to  the  perils  of  war. 

The  gloom  was  increased  by  a  movement  which 
set  in  as  early  as  1686;  I  mean  the  emigration  of 
some  of  the  first  settlers  to  more  fertile  and  pros- 
perous parts  of  the  country.  One  by  one  the  old 
proprietors  withdrew,  until  eleven  of  them  had  left 
the  settlement.  Ten  of  the  proprietors  had  died, 
and  only  fifteen  of  the  original  thirty-six  remained. 
The  young  men  were  naturally  reluctant  to  stay, 
and  the  tide  of  emigration  could  hardly  be  checked. 
To  all  the  rest  was  added  the  "  great  sickness " 
which  broke  out  in  October,  1712,  and  prevailed  for 
nearly  a  year,  carrying  off  one-tenth  of  the  popula- 
tion. 

It  was  during  such  a  period  as  this  that  the 
Waterbury  church  was  organized,  and  in  such  dark 
days  as  these  the  devout  men  of  the  community 
decided  to  build  a  meeting-house.  "  The  encour- 
agement which  we  do  particularly  petition  for," 
said  the  selectmen,  "  is  that  our  public  rates  may 
be  given  to  us  for  the  space  of  the  four  next 
ensuing  years."  The  modest  request  was  granted, 
and  the  meeting-house  was  begun.  It  was  finished 
ere  the  end  of  1694,  and  continued  to  accommodate 
the  church  and  the  town  for  thirty-five  years,  or 
until  1729.  It  stood  near  the  east  end  of  Centre 
square — a  small  building  with  doors  on  the  east, 
west  and  south  sides. 

In  this  house,  which  Mr.  Peck  had  labored  to 
secure,  he  probably  did  not  preach  more  than  a 
year  or  two.  He  was  "by  a  fit  of  the  appoplex  dis- 
enabled for  the  work  of  the  ministry,  and  some 
years  after  (June  7th,  1699)  left  this  world,  in  the 


4o          THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  WATERS URT: 

seventy-seventh  year  of  his  age."  Those  must  have 
been  dark  days  for  the  invalid  pastor,  and  the  out- 
look must  have  been  dark  for  his  successor. 
Perhaps  it  was  because  the  field  was  so  unpromis- 
ing that  John  Southmayd,  a  graduate  of  Harvard, 
young  and  ambitious,  hesitated  so  long  about 
settling  in  it.  But  he  waited  and  worked,  and  the 
tide  turned.  In  1713  the  misfortunes  of  the  settle- 
ment reached  their  culmination.  This  year  of  the 
"great  sickness  "  was  the  year  of -the  restoration  of 
peace  between  England  and  France,  and  the  begin- 
ning of  new  life  for  the  colonies.  The  population 
of  Waterbury  began  now  to  increase,  and  with  it 
the  membership  of  the  church.  Some  of  those  who 
had  gone  away  returned;  the  young  men  were 
more  inclined  to  remain  (Mr.  Southmayd  was 
hardly  twenty-four  when  he  came  to  them),  and 
new  settlements  were  begun  at  points  a  little 
removed  from  the  centre.  The  meeting-house  was 
repaired  and  its  seating  capacity  increased  at  an 
expense  of  fifteen  pounds,  and  ere  long  it  was 
voted  that  a  new  edifice  must  be  built.  The  town 
had  evidently  entered  the  path  of  progress,  and  the 
church,  so  far  as  appears,  kept  pace  with  it.  It  had 
passed  from  dawn  to  daylight,  and  at  the  time 
Mr.  Southmayd  laid  down  his  pastoral  office  (in 
1739)  it  was  enjoying  a  career  of  prosperity. 

Ten  years  before  this,  after  the  usual  prolonged 
struggle  between  the  party  of  progress  and  the 
party  of  economy,  it  was  decided  that  a  new  meet- 
ing house  must  be  built.  This  second  edifice  was 
finished  in  1731.  It  was  fifty  feet  long  and  forty 
feet  wide,*  and  if  the  dimensions  seem  insignificant 

*  Smaller  by  one  hundred  square  feet  than  the  present  conference  room  of  the 
First  church. 


AN  HISTORICAL  SURVEY.  41 

we  must  remember  that  the  population  of  the 
entire  town,  scattered  over  its  one  hundred  and 
thirty-three  square  miles,  was  not  more  than  three 
hundred  souls.  This  was  the  second  of  four  church 
edifices  which  preceded  the  present  one,  and  it  had 
a  longer  life  than  either  of  the  others.  With 
occasional  alterations  and  amendments  it  served 
the  purposes  of  the  town,  and  afterward  of  the 
First  society,  until  near  the  end  of  the  century.  It 
stood,  beneath  storm  and  sunshine,  through  all  the 
era  of  disintegration  and  dissent  of  which  I  have 
spoken,  through  the  Revolutionary  period,  through 
the  period  of  political  reconstruction  and  religious 
decline,  and  was  not  superseded  by  anything  better 
until  1796.  It  must  have  been  some  such  edifice  as 
this,  surviving  to  a  still  later  day,  and  forming  the 
centre  of  a  multitude  of  associations  and  memories, 
that  prompted  Emerson  to  write  : 

We  love  the  venerable  house 

Our  fathers  built  to  God; 
In  heaven  are  kept  their  grateful  vows, 

Their  dust  endears  the  sod. 

Here  holy  thoughts  a  light  have  shed 

From  many  a  radiant  face, 
And  prayers  of  tender  hope  have  spread 

A  perfume  through  the  place. 

From  humble  tenements  around 

Came  up  the  pensive  train, 
And  in  the  church  a  blessing  found 

Which  filled  their  homes  again. 

They  live  with  God,  their  homes  are  dust, 

But  here  their  children  pray, 
And  in  this  fleeting  lifetime  trust 

To  find  the  narrow  way. 


42          THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  WATERBURY : 

If  we  could  look  in  upon  one  of  those  assemblies 
that  gathered  in  that  eighteenth  century  meeting 
house,  any  time  between  1740  and  1790,  how 
strange  it  would  seem  to  us  !  How  quaint  the 
minister  in  his  professional  garb,  looking  down  as 
a  divine  herald  from  the  lofty  desk  !  how  sober 
and  dignified  the  congregation,  seated  according 
to  age  and  rank  in  the  high  backed  square  pews  ! 
how  motley  the  gathering  of  young  people  in  the 
galleries,  each  betraying  in  his  own  way  the 
inward  conflict  between  the  exuberance  of  youth 
and  the  fear  of  the  swift-coming  penalty.  From 
Sabbath  to  Sabbath  they  assembled  thus,  and  from 
year  to  year,  listening  reverently  in  the  sanctuary 
and  lunching  solemnly  in  the  "  Sabba'-day  house," 
while  Mr.  Southmayd,  growing  feeble,  gave  place 
to  Mr.  Leavenworth,  and  Mr.  Leavenworth  in  his 
turn  grew  old  in  one  of  the  longest  pastorates  on 
record. 

At  the  time  when  the  Rev.  John  Southmayd  laid 
down  his  pastoral  office — that  is,  in  1739 — there 
was  much  that  was  promising  in  the  condition  of 
ecclesiastical  affairs,  and  very  little  that  was  dis- 
couraging, either  in  Waterbury  or  in  the  colony  at 
large.  Ten  years  previously  the  town  had  been 
annexed  to  New  Haven  county,  and  now  the 
Waterbury  church  was  in  close  and  advantageous 
alliance  with  the  New  Haven  Association  and 
formed  one  of  the  compact  group  of  churches 
which  constituted  the  "  establishment "  in  Con- 
necticut. The  group  was  more  compact  and  more 
thoroughly  organized  than  it  otherwise  would  have 
been,  because  of  the  work  accomplished  through 
the  adoption  of  the  "  Saybrook  platform  "  in  the 


AN  HISTORICAL  SURVEY. 


43 


commonwealth.  It  was  in  1708  that  the  General 
Court,  "  being  made  sensible  of  the  defects  of 
discipline  in  the  churches  of  this  government," 
convened  the  famous  synod  by  which  the  Saybrook 
platform  was  constructed — a  platform  including  a 
confession  of  faith,  heads  of  agreement  and  articles 
of  discipline.  The  new  constitution  thus  prepared 
marks  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  in  the  history  of 
the  Connecticut  churches.  "  A  uniform  standard  of 
faith  and  action  being  thus  agreed  upon,  a  period 
of  harmony  and  good  feeling  followed,  such 
as  had  not  been  experienced  for  many  years." 
The  churches,  and  especially  the  ministers,  were 
brought  into  closer  union,  and  prepared  for  perils 
and  conflicts  and  achievements  of  which  they  had 
little  anticipation. 

But  underneath  these  tokens  of  prosperity  cer- 
tain new  tendencies  were  already  at  work,  and 
these  ere  long  produced  results  which  to  those  who 
clung  to  the  old  order  of  things  must  have  been  a 
severe  trial.  The  first  of  these — inevitably  in- 
volved in  the  increase  of  population  and  the  exten- 
sion of  the  settlement  over  a  wider  area — was  a 
tendency  to  territorial  division  and  to  a  disinte- 
gration of  the  original  parish;  the  second — of 
vastly  greater  moment  than  any  territorial  changes 
— was  the  development  of  "  dissent"  and  the  forma- 
tion of  new  sects  and  churches  within  the  limits 
and  in  the  very  strongholds  of  the  old  Congrega- 
tionalism. It  would  be  interesting  to  follow  out 
both  of  these  movements.  The  first  will  be  so 
fully  illustrated  in  the  several  histories  of  our 
"daughter  churches"  that  I  need  not  dwell  upon  it; 
but  I  must  touch,  however  briefly,  upon  the  history 
of  dissent  in  the  old  Puritan  town. 


44          THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  WATERS URT : 

For  seventy  years  the  only  form  of  church  gov- 
ernment known  in  the  colony  of  Connecticut  was 
the  Congregational.  The  Congregational  churches 
constituted  in  fact,  if  not  in  theory,  an  "  establish- 
ment," and  the  prejudice  of  the  people  against  other 
forms  is  illustrated  by  an  incident  mentioned  in 
Winthrop's  journal,  or  rather,  by  Governor  Win- 
throp's  interpretation  of  it.  In  his  son's  room,  he 
says,  there  was  a  volume  containing  the  Greek 
Testament,  Psalms  and  Common  Prayer,  and  he 
solemnly  avers  that  the  "  mice,"  having  access 
to  the  volume,  "ate  every  leaf  of  the  Common 
Prayer,  but  touched  not  the  other  parts  of  the 
book."*  In  various  places,  however,  there  were 
persons  of  good  repute  who  had  been  educated  in 
the  Church  of  England,  and  who  had  little  sympa- 
thy with  the  rigid  doctrines  and  discipline  of  the 
New  England  churches.  In  Stratford  there  were  a 
good  many  such,  and  the  Rev.  Timothy  Cutler  of 
that  place  must  have  come  under  their  influence, 
for  not  long  after  his  appointment  as  rector  of  Yale 
college  he  embraced  Episcopacy,  to  the  dismay  of 
the  college  corporation  and  various  other  friends. 
Mr.  Cutler  and  several  others,  including  the  Rev. 
Samuel  Johnson  of  West  Haven,  visited  England 
to  receive  Episcopal  ordination,  and  Mr.  Johnson 
in  the  course  of  time  returned  to  America,  and  be- 
came president  of  Columbia  college.  Among  the 
inhabitants  of  West  Haven  when  Mr.  Johnson 
preached  there  as  a  Congregationalist,  was  a  per- 
son named  James  Brown.  Whether  he  had  come 
under  Episcopal  influence  through  Mr.  Johnson,  I 

*  Quoted  by  C.  W.  Elliott  in  "The  New  England  History,"  Vol.  I.  p.  414. 


AN  HISTORICAL  SURVEY.  45 

can  not  say;  but  not  long  after  his  removal  to  Wa- 
ter-bury, which  was  in  1722,  he  was  an  Episcopalian, 
and  appears  to  have  been  the  first  of  that  persua- 
sion in  the  town.  In  1737  there  was  about  half  a 
dozen  Episcopalian  families  in  Waterbury,  and  in 
that  year  divine  service  was  performed  here  for 
the  first  time  according  to  the  rites  of  the  Church 
of  England.  It  was  the  small  beginning  from 
which  large  results  were  to  flow. 

The  movement  received  aid  from  an  unexpected 
quarter.  In  1740  there  came  to  pass  in  New  Eng- 
land the  "great  awakening,"  or,  in  other  words,  a 
remarkable  revival  of  evangelical  religion,  under 
the  influence  of  Whitefield,  Jonathan  Edwards  and 
other  prominent  men  of  the  time.  Whitefield 
landed  in  Boston  that  year,  and  at  once  compelled 
the  attention  of  the  multitudes.  He  preached  to 
crowds  numbering  thousands,  not  only  in  the 
meeting-houses,  but  upon  the  common.  A  great 
excitement  followed,  and  it  spread  through  the 
colonies.  Much  good  no  doubt  resulted,  and  also 
much  evil.  For  the  revival  was  everywhere  accom- 
panied with  errors  and  extravagances.  The  "  dis- 
position to  follow  not  truth  nor  reason,  nor  any 
rule  of  conduct  but  inward  impulses,"  manifested 
itself  in  all  quarters  ;  a  class  of  itinerating  minis- 
ters appeared,  who  swept  across  the  country, 
spreading  calumny  and  contention  as  they  went  ; 
indeed,  excesses  of  all  kinds  became  common. 

The  people  of  the  colonies,  judged  by  their  atti- 
tude toward  the  new  movement,  were  divided  into 
three  classes  :  Those  who  accepted  it  with  all  its 
extravagances  as  a  work  of  God ;  those  who 
acknowledged  God's  hand  in  it,  but  protested 


46          THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  WATERBURY: 

against  the  excesses  ;  and  those  who  looked  with 
no  favor  upon  the  new  measures,  but  condemned 
them  as  evil  and  only  evil.  In  this  last  class  were 
some,  of  course,  who  remained  in  their  Congrega- 
tionalism ;  but  many  found  relief  for  their  thought 
and  feeling  by  abandoning  the  church  of  their 
fathers  and  becoming  Episcopalians.  All  this  was 
illustrated  in  Waterbury,  no  less  than  elsewhere. 
The  old  society  was  shaken  and  almost  rent  in 
pieces,  and  the  Episcopal  parish  profited  by  the 
confusion  and  division  ;  for  many,  annoyed  and 
disgusted  at  what  they  saw,  became  "  churchmen." 
This  was  about  the  condition  of  things  when  Mr. 
Mark  Leavenworth,  the  successor  of  the  Rev.  John 
Southmayd,  appeared  upon  the  field  of  action. 

Mr.  Leavenworth's  ministry  is  conspicuous  not 
only  in  the  history  of  the  Waterbury  church,  but  in 
the  ecclesiastical  history  of  Connecticut,  because  of 
its  long  duration.  It  began  in  1740  and  continued 
until  1797.  Within  the  limits  of  this  pastorate, 
therefore,  took  place  some  of  the  greatest  and  most 
critical  events  of  our  national  life.  Chief  among 
these  was,  of  course,  the  war  of  the  Revolution.  I 
need  hardly  refer  to  the  events  of  the  Revolution, 
or  the  causes  that  led  to  it;  they  are  familiar  to 
you  and  your  children.  I  need  only  remind  you 
that  after  an  agitation  of  ten  years  the  Continental 
Congress  in  1774  decreed  a  general  boycott  (as  we 
should  call  it  now),  a  system  of  non-intercourse 
with  the  mother  country,  and  that  this  plan  having 
been  promptly  adopted  by  the  House  of  Represent- 
atives of  Connecticut,  the  matter  came  quickly 
before  the  towns  for  action.  In  Waterbury,  action 
was  taken  on  the  i7th  of  November  in  the  same 


AN  HISTORICAL  SURVEY.  47 

year,  and  the  result  showed  that  a  large  majority 
of  the  people  were  advocates  of  colonial  rights  and 
ready  to  suffer  for  their  vindication.  The  position 
then  assumed  was  not  receded  from.  The  conflict 
came  on,  slowly  but  surely,  and  Waterbury  had  her 
full  share  in  it.  "  Few  of  us,"  it  has  been  said, 
"  have  any  adequate  conception  of  the  disturbed 
condition  of  our  country  in  those  dark  and  perilous 
days,"  and  there  was  distress  here  as  well  as  else- 
where. 

But  the  actual  condition  of  things  cannot  be 
appreciated  except  as  we  take  into  account  the 
extent  to  which  the  ecclesiastical  element  entered 
into  the  case.  There  were  strong  reasons  why  the 
Church  of  England  men  should  sympathize  with 
the  mother  country.  These  reasons  were  in  many 
cases  effective,  and  "  churchmen "  and  patriots 
found  themselves  pitted  against  each  other  in  every 
community  in  which  dissent  had  secured  a  footing. 
It  was  certainly  so  in  Waterbury.  The  patriots 
early  took  a  decisive  stand  (as  we  have  seen) 
against  the  designs  of  the  mother  country,  and  an 
equally  decided  stand  against  their  Tory  neigh- 
bors, and  the  result  was  a  specially  bitter  antago- 
nism between  the  two  churches.  It  would  be  inter- 
esting to  show  the  bearings  of  the  war  upon  the 
fortunes  of  the  churches  and  of  their  respective 
pastors,  Mr.  Leavenworth  and  the  Rev.  James 
Scovill;  but  I  cannot  delay,  even  in  this  important 
field.  I  only  remind  you  that  the  success  of  the 
patriot  cause  involved  not  alone  the  results  which 
the  patriots  directly  aimed  at,  but  others  which 
they  hardly  dared  to  hope  for.  The  way  was 
prepared  for  our  noble  written  constitution,  and  for 


48          THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  WATERS URT : 

such  legislation  as  that  of  1784,  "for  securing  the 
rights  of  conscience  " — a  law  which  permitted  a  man 
to  join  any  denomination  of  Christians  he  pleased, 
and  led  on  to  that  beneficent  separation  of  church 
and  state  which  characterizes  our  national  life. 

The  effect  of  the  Revolution  on  the  church  and 
religion  must,  upon  the  whole,  have  been  good;  but 
its  immediate  consequences  might  almost  be  charac- 
terized as  disastrous.  That  the  Episcopal  society 
should  have  suffered  was  a  matter  of  course.  But 
in  the  Congregational  church,  where  one  would 
suppose  the  success  of  the  colonial  cause  ought  to 
have  involved  an  increase  of  prosperity,  the  actual 
result  was  a  long  and  serious  decline  in  religion. 
In  the  "Christian  Spectator"  for  June,  1833,  there 
is  an  elaborate  article*  entitled  "The  Religious 
Declension  in  New  England  during  the  Latter 
Half  of  the  Last  Century."  As  this  article  clearly 
shows,  the  declension  was  very  real  and  very  wide- 
spread, and  Waterbury  was  involved  in  it.  It  came 
partly  as  a  reaction  from  the  violent  measures  and 
extreme  views  of  the  revival  period,  and  partly  as 
a  result  of  political  conditions— the  influence  of 
the  times  upon  religion  and  the  church.  I  cannot 
give  you  details,  for  the  records  are  wanting;  but 
you  are  justified  in  thinking  of  the  days  which  fol- 
lowed the  Revolutionary  war  as  days  of  decadence 
and  gloom. 

But  this,  of  course,  was  not  to  last.  The  era  .of 
renewed  prosperity  may  be  regarded  as  dating 
from  the  building  of  the  third  house  of  worship 
(that  which  afterward  became  "Gothic  hall"),  which 

*  Written,  by  the  way,  by  the  Rev.  Luther  Hart,  formerly  pastor  of  the  church 
in  Plymouth. 


AN  HISTORICAL  SUE  VET.  49 

was  dedicated  in  1796.  When  the  sound  of  the  bell 
— placed  in  the  steeple  not  long  after  the  dedica- 
tion— first  rung  out  over  the  hillsides  of  old  Matta- 
tuck,  and  it  was  voted  that  the  Episcopal  society 
should  have  the  use  of  it  "  on  all  proper  occasions," 
it  was  evident  that  religion  was  again  uttering  her 
voice,  and  also  that  religion  meant  charity  and 
brotherly  love.  The  discords  of  the  Revolutionary 
time  were  dying  out,  to  be  revived  no  more,  and 
the  work  of  the  Lord  was  to  be  accomplished  by 
new  hands  and  upon  a  broader  basis.  It  was  at  this 
epoch  (1793)  that  the  Congregational  churches  of 
Connecticut  began  their  noble  frontier  mission 
work, — a  work  which  ere  long  extended  from  Ver- 
mont to  Louisiana,  and  which  through  varying 
phases  has  continued  until  now. 

My  hour  is  almost  ended,  and  I  have  brought  you 
only  a  little  more  than  half  way  along  our  journey 
of  two  hundred  years.  The  period  that  remains  is 
no  less  interesting  and  certainly  no  less  important 
than  that  which  we  have  traversed,  but  it  is  more 
like  ourselves,  less  strange  and  quaint,  and  more 
readily  taken  for  granted.  I  must  seek,  however, 
to  characterize  it,  so  far  as  I  can,  in  rapid  outline. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  era  of  renewed  prosperity 
as  having  begun  in  1796.  Three  years  later  than 
this,  the  Rev.  Edward  Porter,  Mr.  Leavenworth's 
colleague  for  a  short  time,  gave  way  to  the  Rev. 
Holland  Weeks  (one  of  the  ablest  men  of  the 
Waterbury  ministry,  I  have  reason  to  think)  whose 
pastorate  extended  to  1806.  The  fact  that  Mr. 
Weeks  was  dismissed  for  want  of  support*  shows 

*See  p.  17  of  "Farewell  Sermon,  delivered  December  21,  1806.  By  Holland 
Weeks,  A.  M.  New  Haven:  1807." 


So          THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  WATERBUR7 : 

that  the  lowest  ebb  of  worldly  prosperity  in  the 
First  church  had  not  hitherto  been  reached.  But 
it  was  reached  now,  and  the  tide  was  turning.  Be- 
tween 1800  and  1820  a  double  transformation  took 
place  which  makes  this  epoch  a  marked  one  in  the 
history  of  the  town  and  the  church.  In  the  town 
at  large  that  new  era  of  prosperity  was  entered 
upon  which  still  shines  upon  us  and  in  the  light  and 
warmth  of  which  we  have  grown  to  be  a  flourishing 
city.  At  the  beginning  of  the  century,  Waterbury 
was  an  ordinary  country  village,  with  less  than  an 
average  supply  of  attractions,  and  a  poor  prospect 
before  it.  In  the  estimation  of  the  surrounding 
towns  it  was  a  kind  of  Nazareth,  of  which  nothing 
good  could  be  said.  But  it  had  in  it  what  was 
better  than  topographical  advantages — a  group  of 
ingenious,  industrious,  wide-awake  men,  and  it  had 
through  the  shaping  of  events  an  hour  of  golden 
opportunity.  In  this  quiet,  unpromising  village, 
just  at  the  opening  of  the  century,  the  manufacture 
of  gilt  buttons  and  of  clocks  was  begun,  and  from 
that  time  until  now  the  "brass  industry"  has 
steadily  grown,  and  has  transformed  not  only  the 
old  village,  but  the  entire  Naugatuck  valley,  into 
"  something  rich  and  strange."  The  record  be- 
comes doubly  interesting  when  we  find  that  in 
spiritual  things  also  there  was  a  revival  of  pros- 
perity. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Weeks,  in  his  farewell  discourse, 
said  to  the  people  he  was  leaving,  "  You  will  feel, 
I  hope,  the  great  importance  of  a  speedy  re-settle- 
ment of  the  gospel  ministry.  ...  If  possible,  let 
the  first  candidate  you  employ  be  the  one  on  whom 
you  fix  your  affections  to  be  your  minister.  And 


AN  HISTORICAL  SURVEY.  51 

'  fixing,  fix '  (as  Dr.  Young  says  in  the  choice  of  a 
friend),  '  and  then  confide  till  death.'  "  *  The  hope 
thus  expressed  was  hardly  fulfilled,  for  the  pas- 
torate remained  vacant  for  nearly  two  years,  and 
between  the  end  of  1808,  when  the  Rev.  Luke  Wood 
was  called,  and  the  end  of  1864,  when  the  Rev. 
George  Bushnell  resigned — a  period  of  just  the 
same  length  as  Mr.  Leavenworth's  ministry — the 
church  had  eight  installed  pastors,  besides  two  or 
three  acting  pastors  serving  for  more  than  a  year. 
Of  the  eight  pastorates  Mr.  Wood's  was  the  long- 
est, but  during  a  large  part  of  the  time  he  was 
a  sufferer  from  ill-health.  For  about  a  year  (in 
1816)  his  place  was  supplied  by  Dr.  Nettleton,  to 
whom  I  have  already  referred  ;  and  it  was  under 
his  ministry  that  the  era  of  prosperity  really  began 
in  the  church.  Dr.  Nettleton's  preaching  had  been 
followed  by  revivals  of  religion  wherever  he  went, 
and  the  results  here  were  similar  to  those  produced 
elsewhere.  First  of  all,  more  than  a  hundred  per- 
sons were  added  to  the  church,  some  of  whom  have 
continued  with  us  almost  to  the  present  time.  And 
besides  this,  a  foreign  missionary  society  was  es- 
tablished, which  flourished  for  some  years,  the 
Ladies'  Benevolent  society  was  organized,  which 
has  continued  until  now,  the  prayer  meeting  be- 
came an  institution  of  the  church,  and  the  Sunday 
school  began  its  career  of  blessed  influence.  The 
"revival,"  as  tested  by  its  immediate  effects,  cul- 
minated in  the  summer  of  1817.  In  February, 
April  and  June  of  that  year,  one  hundred  and  eigh- 
teen persons  were  received  into  the  church  ;  in 
October  there  was  only  one  addition,  in  the  whole 

*  Farewell  Sermon,  p.  18. 


52  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  WATERBURT: 

year  1818  only  two,  and  in  1819  only  one.  But  the 
origin  of  the  institutions  I  have  mentioned  seems 
to  be  connected  with  the  new  birth  of  interest  in 
religious  things  which  was  manifested  throughout 
New  England  at  this  time,  and  so  strikingly  mani- 
fested in  Waterbury. 

And  the  new  age  which  we  then  entered  upon 
has  been  an  age  of  institutions.  Church  life 
through  all  the  land  has  grown  more  and  more 
objective,  more  and  more  institutional  and  con- 
crete, and  the  tendency  in  that  direction,  as  we 
should  naturally  anticipate  in  an  industrial  com- 
munity, has  been  especially  marked  in  Water- 
bury.  In  1835  the  First  society  erected  its  fourth 
church  building,  which  after  standing  just  forty 
years,  to  a  day,  was  removed  to  give  place  to  the 
present  edifice.  In  all  the  appliances  of  modern 
church  life — parlors,  chapel,  organ,  choir  and  the 
like — we  have  kept  pace  with  the  progress  of  the 
nation,  and  in  the  organizations  by  which  the 
church  reaches  out  a  strong  arm  into  the  secular 
life — Christian  associations,  industrial  schools,  boys' 
clubs,  hospitals,  and  many  more — we  have  had  a 
goodly  share.  That  at  the  same  time  we  have 
recognized  the  divine  science  of  theology  as  a 
living  and  growing  rather  than  a  dead  thing,  I 
need  not  insist  in  the  presence  of  those  who  know 
us.  • 

Of  course  I  cannot  do  justice  to  the  character- 
istics of  the  present  age  in  our  church  life  without 
referring,  however  briefly,  to  the  development  of 
other  churches  from  our  own — representing  other 
and  at  first  hostile  denominations — and  the  gradual 
approximation  to  brotherhood  and  spiritual  union 


AN  HISTORICAL  SURVEY.  53 

which  has  taken  place  among  them.  To  the  estab- 
lishment of  Episcopacy  here,  I  have  already  re- 
ferred. Two  other  non-Congregational  churches 
have  appeared  among  us  within  the  present  cen- 
tury— the  Baptists  in  1803,  the  Methodists  twelve 
years  later.  They  were  in  each  case  an  expression 
of  the  sense  of  spiritual  need  and  the  duty  of  spir- 
itual activity.  Looked  upon  at  first  not  only  with 
suspicion,  but  with  hatred,  they  have  vindicated 
for  themselves  a  place  in  the  respect  and  affections 
of  the  most  conservative  representatives  of  the  old 
way.  In  all  the  Lord's  warfare  now,  we  move  on 
side  by  side  and  elbow  to  elbow,  as  if  we  had 
always  been  friends. 

The  prosperity  of  these  "daughter  churches" 
which  bear  Episcopal  and  Baptist  and  Methodist 
names  is  exceeded  in  our  city  only  by  that  of  the 
daughter  which  bears  our  own  name.  I  should  feel 
that  the  ecclesiastical  history  of  Waterbury  was 
indeed  sadly  incomplete  were  I  not  sure  that  the 
conspicuous  place  of  the  Second  Congregational 
church  in  the  life  of  our  city  would  somehow 
receive  full  recognition  in  our  bi-centennial  ser- 
vices. That  it  has  outstripped  the  mother  church, 
not  only,  but  all  the  churches  of  Connecticut  in 
membership,  is  a  fact  worth  thinking  of  ;  but  this 
is  by  no  means  the  only  boast  it  has  a  right  to 
make.  We  are  glad  of  the  co-operation  we  find  in 
such  a  daughter  in  handing  down  to  new  genera- 
tions the  old  faith  and  worship,  and  in  remaking 
the  world  for  the  Master. 

Brethren  and  friends  :  It  seemed  to  me  befitting 
that  while  standing  on  this  high  place  of  our  his- 
tory, with  loftier  summits  rising  into  view,  we 


54 


TEE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  WATERBURT. 


should  pause  long  enough  to  look  back  over  the 
landscape  of  the  past,  that  we  might  see  by  what 
path  we  had  come  and  recall  the  varied  experiences 
of  the  way.  It  is  thus  we  shall  learn  to  know  our- 
selves aright,  and  the  better  prepare  ourselves  for 
the  momentous  tasks  of  the  future.  Every  such 
story  has  its  moral ;  every  such  record  abounds  in 
lessons.  You  must  deduce  them  for  yourselves. 
But  this,  surely,  should  be  our  feeling  as  a  church 
— that  our  past  achievement  bears  to  the  great 
whole  some  such  relation  as  the  foundation  walls 
of  an  edifice  bear  to  the  completed  and  beautiful 
structure.  Our  church  has  had  a  life  two  hundred 
years  long  ;  yet  what  have  we  been  but  workers  on 
the  foundation  walls  ?  Let  us  not  be  satisfied  with 
past  results  ;  let  us  work  on,  assured  that  the  walls 
on  which  we  labor,  if  we  labor  aright,  are 

The  first  foundations  of  that  new,  near  Day 
Which  shall  be  builded  out  of  heaven  to  God. 


II. 

THE  WATERBURY  CHURCHES. 


WORDS  OF  INTRODUCTION  BY  THE   REV. 
DR.  ANDERSON. 

We  have  written  upon  our  walls  the  names  of 
the  churches  in  the  vicinity  which  we  claim  as  the 
offspring  of  the  old  First  church  in  Waterbury.  In 
studying  the  ancient  records  of  the  town,  one  soon 
discovers  with  what  reluctance  the  mother  parted 
with  her  daughters.  There  was  a  conflict  in  almost 
every  instance,  and  in  every  instance  the  child  tri- 
umphed over  the  parent.  This,  which  is  true  of 
the  churches  of  the  vicinage,  is  especially  true  of 
the  churches  of  the  city.  In  the  case  of  the  young- 
est daughter,  whose  name  we  see  upon  my  left — the 
Second  Congregational  church,  the  colonization  was 
friendly.  But  in  regard  to  the  other  city  churches 
represented  here  this  evening,  which  are  churches 
of  other  "denominations,"  we  must  acknowledge 
not  only  the  mother's  reluctance,  in  a  certain  sense, 
at  parting  with  her  offspring,  but  her  hostility,  and 
in  some  cases,  I  regret  to  say,  hatred  on  her  part 
toward  the  child.  More  than  once  heretofore  I 
have  referred  in  public  to  a  vote  found  in  the 
records  of  the  old  First  church,  bearing  the  inter- 
esting date,  July  4th,  1800,  instructing  a  certain 
committee  to  proceed  against  certain  brethren  and 
sisters  of  the  church  who  had  been  guilty  of  going 
off  to  the  Methodists,  with  the  understanding  that 
if  they  could  not  be  brought  to  terms  they  must 
henceforth  be  treated  as  heretics,  and  "rejected" 


58  THE  WATERS URT  CHURCHES. 

according  to  the  Scriptures.*  Strangely  and  beau- 
tifully in  contrast  with  all  this  is  the  attitude  of 
our  Waterbury  churches  toward  one  another  to- 
day. We  feel  that  not  only  the  Congregational 
churches  of  the  vicinage  but  the  Episcopal  churches 
of  our  city,  if  they  will  allow  us  to  say  so,  are  the 
daughters  of  the  old  First  church,  and  no  less  so 
the  Baptist  church,  and  the  Methodist  churches. 

And  it  seemed  to  me,  looking  the  field  over  and 
considering  what  services  would  be  proper  for  such 
a  celebration  as  this,  that  we  must  have  at  least 
one  service  in  which  the  different  denominations, 
as  we  call  them — the  churches  of  different  names 
here  in  our  city — should  be  represented.  I  desired 
that  there  should  be  a  manifestation  here,  to-day, 
of  the  brotherhood  of  the  church, — a  manifestation 
in  which,  I  know,  those  are  willing  to  take  part 
who  are  under  certain  limitations  by  virtue  of  their 
canon  law,  no  less  than  others  whose  polity  leaves 
them  free.  So  I  have  asked  the  Rev.  Dr.  Rowland 
to  speak  for  the  church  whose  establishment  in 
Waterbury  dates  back  to  1740  or  thereabouts,  and 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Elsdonto  speak  for  the  Baptist  church 

*  The  complete  record  of  the  action  of  the  church  is  as  follows : 

"Waterbury,  July  4,  A.  D.  1800.  Met  according  to  adjournment.  Voted, 
That  Reuben  Frisbie  and  Stephen  Hotchkiss  be  a  committee  to  inform  a  number 
of  the  brethren  and  sisters  of  this  church,  who  sometime  since  went  off  to  the 
Methodists,  that  the  church,  having  taken  proper  steps,  according  to  the  gospel, 
to  gain  them  to  their  duty,  without  success,  are  about  to  proceed  to  reject  them, 
unless  they  come  forward  and  make  gospel  satisfaction. 

"  Waterbury,  Sept.  i6th,  1800.  .  .  .  Having  twice  admonished  Mrs.  Lydia 
Mix,  Mrs.  Susanna  Munson,  Mrs.  Sarah  Hoadly,  Mr.  Gershom  Olds  and  Mrs. 
Sybil  Olds,  agreeable  to  Titus  3,  10,  and  having  waited  upon  them  with  much 
forbearance  and  tenderness,  without  success,  Voted  to  reject  them  from  our  fel- 
lowship and  communion,  agreeable  to  the  direction  of  the  apostle  in  said  text. 

Test,  HOLLAND  WEEKS,  Clerk." 

The  words  of  the  passage  appealed  to  are  :  "A  man  that  is  a  heretic,  after  the 
first  and  second  admonition,  reject." 


THE  EEV.  DR.  ROWLAND'S  ADDRESS.          59 

which  originated  here  in  1803,  and  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Eggleston  to  represent  our  Methodist  brethren, 
who  organized  a  church  in  1815.  Mr.  Maltby — a 
fitting  representative,  not  alone  because  of  his 
official  relations — will  tell  the  story  of  the  Second 
Congregational  church;  and  toward  the  end  the 
services  will  blossom  out  into  a  poem  composed  by 
the  senior  pastor  of  this  our  youngest  and  largest 
and  most  vigorous  daughter. 

I  welcome  you,  friends,  to  these  services  in  which 
so  many  are  to  take  part.  I  welcome  also  these 
official  representatives  of  the  several  churches,  to 
each  of  whom  some  part  has  been  assigned. 
Although  we  cannot  hear  from  all  of  you  in  words 
of  response,  we  rejoice  to  have  you  with  us  on  this 
festal  day. 


ADDRESS    BY    THE    REV.    EDMUND    ROW- 
LAND,   D.    D.,    RECTOR    OF 
ST.  JOHN'S  CHURCH. 

There  is  a  passage  in  Macaulay's  "  History  of 
England  "  that  is  not  half  as  well  known  as  it 
ought  to  be,  for  its  literary  merit  alone,  if  for  no 
other  reason.  It  is  that  passage  in  which,  about  to 
speak  of  the  wars  between  the  "  cavaliers  "  and  the 
"roundheads,"  he  leaves  the  subject  for  a  moment 
and  enters  upon  a  eulogy  of  the  Puritans.  It  is  a 
grand  theme  ;  his  pen  was  never  better  occupied 
than  in  that  eulogy.  They  were  a  noble  race  of 
men,  and  I  have  found  that  all  those  who  make 
any  claim  whatever  to  descent  from  the  Puritans, 


60  THE  WATERS  URY  CHURCHES. 

no  matter  what  their  affiliations  at  present  may  be, 
are  very  glad  to  accept  this  view  of  them.  They 
were  sterling  men.  God  knows,  I  wish  we  had 
more  such  men  to-day — men  of  deep  convictions 
and  men  who  had  the  courage  of  their  convictions. 
They  came  to  this  country  with  the  purpose  of 
carrying  out  here  the  idea  of  a  church  without  a 
bishop  and  a  state  without  a  king  ;  but  not  the  idea 
of  a  state  without  a  church.  They  certainly  were 
the  established  church  in  this  country— at  all 
events,  in  this  section  of  the  country.  An  examin- 
ation of  the  old  records  of  New  England  will  show 
how  closely  the  church  and  the  state  were  one  ;  nor 
did  they  intend  there  should  be  anything  else  here 
but  the  church  of  the  Puritans.  This  First  church 
established  in  Waterbury  was  a  church  of  the  Puri- 
tans, and  I  am  sure  it  scarcely  entered  into  the 
minds  of  the  founders  of  the  First  church  that  the 
voice  of  an  Episcopal  minister  would  ever  be  heard 
in  the  church,  to  say  nothing  of  the  voice  of  a  Bap- 
tist minister.  Indeed,  I  think  it  was  usually  the 
policy  of  that  church  to  avoid  the  Episcopalians 
and  the  Baptists  and  the  Methodists,  and  also  to 
make  them  feel  as  if  they  were  interlopers.  It  was 
the  custom  of  the  day.  The  Puritans  had  been  per- 
secuted in  the  old  country,  and  they  were  perhaps 
not  unwilling  to  retaliate  upon  the  church  that 
persecuted  them,  when  that  church  came  to  be  rep- 
resented here.  They  wanted  the  ground  for  them- 
selves ;  they  were  the  established  church  ;  and  it 
was  the  rule  almost  always,  the  final  argument  of 
those  days,  to  persecute.  If  a  man  did  not  believe 
exactly  as  you  did,  the  next  thing,  after  having  tried 
argument  with  him,  was  to  persecute,  to  make  him 


THE  REV.  DR.  ROWLAND'S  ADDRESS.          61 

uncomfortable.  I  am  very  glad  that  those  days 
have  gone  by  and  that  we  live  in  better  times. 
Toleration  is  a  mark  of  the  advance  of  our  age  in 
religious  thought. 

Dr.  Anderson  has  said  that  this  church  may  in 
some  sense  be  considered  the  mother  of  the  Epis- 
copal church,  and  it  is  true  that  it  may  be  so  con- 
sidered. The  Episcopal  churches  received  the 
benefit,  largely,  of  the  instructions  given  in  this 
church.  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  when  we  look 
over  the  personnel  of  our  Episcopal  church,  we  find 
a  very  small  proportion  of  our  members— whether 
of  our  clergy  or  of  our  lay  members — who  were 
born  and  brought  up  and  educated  in  the  Episcopal 
fold.  Take  the  bishops  ;  it  has  been  said  that  not 
more  than  one-tenth  of  the  whole  number  of  our 
bishops  were  born  and  educated  in  the  Episcopal 
church.  They  have  all  been  drawn  from  other 
denominations.  If  that  is  true  of  bishops,  it  is 
likewise  true  of  the  lower  clergy.  Whenever  I  look 
around  among  my  acquaintances  in  the  ministry,  I 
find  that  those  who  were  born  and  brought  up  in 
the  church  are  very  few  and  far  between  ;  and  it  is 
so  among  the  members  of  our  churches.  Perhaps 
not  in  so  large  a  proportion,  because  the  Episcopal 
laity  in  this  country  are  largely  of  foreign  birth  ; 
nevertheless  a  very  considerable  proportion  of  our 
laity  were  born  and  brought  up  outside  of  the 
church. 

Now,  if  this  be  so,  what  follows  ?  Why,  it  follows, 
that  if  we  have  religious  zeal,  learning,  faith, 
charity,  we  have  got  them  from  somewhere  outside 
of  ourselves, — that  thosje  ministers  who  were  edu- 
cated in  other  denominations  brought  them  with 


6 a  THE  WATERBURT  CHURCHES 

them  into  our  church  ;  and  I  believe  that  is  very 
generally  felt.  But  it  is  a  thing  we  do  not  think  of 
as  often  as  we  ought, — how  much  we  are  indebted 
to  one  another  in  this  Christian  community  for 
religious  ideas.  It  is  impossible  that  this  church 
here  should  keep  to  itself  the  teaching  it  has 
received  in  these  two  hundred  years.  That  teach- 
ing has  gone  out  into  the  community.  It  has  made 
men  examples  for  the  community  to  emulate,  and 
it  has  made  men  who  have  united  themselves  with 
other  denominations  distinguished  for  those  virtues 
which  have  been  here  inculcated. 

I  do  not  know  that  I  am  able  to  speak  upon  the 
doctrines,  the  actual  doctrines,  of  Congregation- 
alism, as  distinguished  from  those  that  I  hold.  It 
is  not  incumbent  upon  me  that  I  should.  I  may 
say  that  I  am  very  ignorant  of  the  actual  teachings 
of  Congregationalism.  I  know  something  of  the 
old  doctrines  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  but  I 
know  very  little  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Congrega- 
tionalists  as  held  to-day.  I  have  had  friends  who 
were  Congregationalists,  of  whom,  perhaps,  I  might 
have  received  instruction.  I  have  one  friend  in 
especial,  who,  I  think,  is  prominent  in  this  denomi- 
nation. I  have  never  heard  him  say  much  about 
doctrines,  but  I  know  how  high  a  power  his  life 
has,  and  how  much  good  he  is  doing  in  the  place 
where  God  has  put  him.  I  never  heard  him  speak 
of  "  election,"  but  I  should  judge  from  his  conduct 
and  his  words  that  he  believes  election  to  be  as 
broad  as  humanity  itself.  I  never  heard  him  speak 
of  the  doctrine  of  predestination  ;  I  do  not  know 
whether  he  is  a  supralapsarian  or  a  sublapsarian, 
but  I  know  that  he  feels  that  God's  foreknowledge 


THE  REV.  MR.  ELSDON'8  ADDRESS.  63 

makes  no  difference  with  man's  free  will.  I  don't 
know  whether  he  believes  in  the  verbal  inspiration 
of  the  Scriptures,  but  I  do  know  that  he  finds  in  the 
Scriptures  the  word  of  God,  and  that  he  draws  from 
them  inspiring  lessons  every  day  of  his  life.  I 
don't  know  that  he  believes  in  the  doctrine  of  pro- 
bation after  death,  but  I  know  that  he  is  anxious  to 
have  all  men  feel  that  they  have  a  probation  in 
this  life.  He  would  have  every  human  being, 
wherever  he  may  be,  have  a  knowledge  of  his  pro- 
bation and  what  it  is. 

That  friend  of  mine  is  the  pastor  of  this  church, 
and  in  bringing  you  the  greetings  of  the  church  to 
which  I  minister  in  this  place,  I  would  also  say 
that  I  sincerely  trust  no  call  will  ever  separate  him 
from  the  First  church,  or  from  Waterbury  (to 
which  he  belongs  as  much  as  he  belongs  to  you\ 
except  that  last  call  which  bids  him  come  up  higher 
into  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 


ADDRESS     BY    THE    REV.    W.    P.    ELSDON, 

PASTOR   OF   THE   FIRST   BAPTIST 

CHURCH. 

When  I  go  down  to  my  old  home,  I  turn  myself 
into  a  Methodist  for  the  time  being,  that  I  may 
fully  fellowship  the  dear  father  and  other  kindred 
there.  To-day  I  have  been  glad  to  turn  myself  into 
a  Congregationalist,  and  so  doing  I  had  a  very 
great  treat,  this  afternoon,  in  listening  to  that 
admirable  historical  discourse  which  Dr.  Anderson 
gave  us.  I  count  myself  very  happy  to  be  here  to- 


64  THE  WATEBBTJRY  CHURCHES. 

night  to  speak  a  word  on  this  auspicious  occasion. 
And  yet  I  feel  like  a  stripling;  I  feel  small  and 
insignificant  in  this  august  presence;  I  am  so 
young — only  eighty-eight  years  old — alongside  of 
this  majestic  two-hundred.  I  am  completely  over- 
shadowed. You  know  I  am  speaking  as  the  Baptist 
church.  Personally  I  am  not  quite  eighty-eight; 
but  I  am  expected  to  represent  the  Baptist  church. 
That,  by  the  way,  is  a  very  difficult  thing  to  do. 
The  Baptists  are  the  worst  kind  of  people  I  ever 
knew  to  represent  at  all.  They  remind  me  of  a 
story  of  a  boy  who  had  been  behaving  badly,  and 
whose  mother  "  went  for  him."  He  ran,  but  the 
mother  was  gaining  on  him  ;  so  he  dropped  on  his 
hands  and  knees  and  crawled  under  the  barn, 
where  she  couldn't  reach  him,  and  lay  there. 
She  waited  until  his  father  came  home,  and 
then  committed  the  taws  and  the  cause  to  him. 
When  he  went  out  to  the  barn,  and  dropped  on  his 
hands  and  knees,  to  go  under  it,  the  boy  said, 
"  Oh,  father,  is  she  after  you  too  ? "  That  boy  had 
no  idea  that  his  father  could  represent  his  mother. 
And  I  have  a  very  difficult  task  for  to-night,  if  I 
represent  the  Baptist  church.  My  own  church, 
here  in  Waterbury,  may  possibly  submit  to  it,  pro- 
vided I  behave  myself  as  I  should.  I  was  reading 
in  a  New  York  paper  this  morning  about  some 
man  who  had  been  elected  to  office,  I  think  in 
Pennsylvania.  The  writer,  describing  him,  said 
that  he  was  a  "  mugwump  of  the  most  unscrupu- 
lous integrity."  Now,  if  my  integrity  should  get 
off  the  track  a  little,  my  church  to-morrow  would 
utterly  repudiate  my  representation  of  them.  So 
you  see  I  have  to  go  carefully.  The  Baptists  are 


THE  EEV.  MR.  ELSDON'S  ADDRESS.  65 

very  democratic,  even  more  democratic  than  the 
Congregationalists. 

While  I  do  not  know  that  there  is  any  organic 
fellowship,  lying  anywhere  in  the  dim  past,  between 
this  mother  church  and  the  church  I  have  the 
honor  to  serve  (at  any  rate  I  have  not  been  able  to 
discover  any  fact  that  would  so  indicate)  yet  I  have 
got  hold  of  this,  that  establishes  a  sort  of  connec- 
tion after  all: — When  one  of  those  earlier  church 
buildings  of  which  Dr.  Anderson  told  us  to-day 
was  put  up,  an  election  was  held  at  which  those 
were  chosen  who  should  occupy  the  highest  seat  in 
the  church.  I  think  it  was  the  pew  at  the  head  of 
the  house,  with  its  square  walls  and  high — that 
pew  in  which  were  seated  those  who  were  most 
honorable  by  reason  of  rank  and  by  reason  of  age 
in  the  congregation.  Now,  I  believe  there  are  at 
least  three  members  in  my  church  to-day  who  are 
descended  from  some  of  the  original  seven  that 
were  elected  to  that  highest  honor  in  the  house  of 
the  Lord  ;  and  yet  that  was  very  long  ago,  long 
before  there  was  any  Baptist  church. 

I  understand  that  in  the  early  days  of  Baptist 
history  it  was  very  difficult  to  get  a  footing  in  the 
town.  The  first  Baptist  church  was  built  in  the 
woods,  and  they  had  to  go  to  the  woods  to  worship. 
Well,  thank  God,  we  have  got  out  of  the  woods,  and 
this  First  Congregational  church  has  got  out  of  the 
woods,  too,  as  evidenced  in  the  fact  that  I  am  in- 
vited to  speak  here  to-night.  Congregationalism  is 
not  a  "  standing  order  "  any  longer  ;  it  is  a  march- 
ing order  ;  it  is  going  on,  I  hope,  toward  perfection. 
I  don't  know  that  I  am  naturally  a  conservative  ; 
possibly  I  might  not  have  come  out  of  the  church 


66  THE  WATERS URT  CHURCHES. 

of  my  fathers  if  I  had  been.  But,  whatever  re- 
mains of  conservatism  there  may  be  in  me,  I  was 
greatly  pleased  as  well  as  surprised  last  Monday,  at 
what  I  saw  and  heard  at  the  conference  of  New 
Haven  county  Baptist  ministers  in  the  city  of  New 
Haven.  The  subject  of  the  paper  for  the  day  was 
the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures,  and  there  was 
developed  in  that  paper  and  in  the  discussion  that 
followed,  a  remarkable  variety  of  sentiment  con- 
cerning that  great  and  vastly  important  doctrine  ; 
views  were  expressed  by  the  different  brethren 
ranging  all  the  way  from  the  most  narrow  and 
rigid  verbal  theory  of  inspiration  to — well,  I  don't 
like  to  say  how  far  it  went  in  the  other  direction. 
But  it  was  worth  a  good  deal  to  me  to  remember, 
thinking  it  all  over  afterward,  that  in  a  confer- 
ence of  Baptist  ministers — of  Baptist  ministers 
serving  in  the  same  county — views  so  diverse  con- 
cerning a  matter  so  fundamental  could  be  freely 
uttered,  and  could  find  the  largest  toleration.  We 
are  indeed  marching  ;  we  are  not  a  standing  order 
any  more. 

While  appreciating  fully  the  greatness  of  our 
differences,  I  rejoice  in  the  essential  unity  of  the 
Christian  faith. 

O  Lord  and  Master  of  us  all, 
Whate'er  our  name  or  sign, — 

I  bless  God  that  this  is  true,  as  we  sang  here  to- 
night. At  the  bottom,  at  the  root,  we  are  of  one 
blood.  Some  day  we  may  have  not  only  one  Lord, 
but  one  faith  and  one  baptism.  At  least,  when  the 
millenium  comes,  I  suppose  that  will  be  ;  and 
meanwhile  I  do  bless  God  for  our  essential  Christ- 
ian unity  ;  I  rejoice  in  every  manifestation  of  it. 


THE  REV.  MR.  ELSDON'S  ADDRESS.  67 

and  therefore  am  always  glad  to  take  part  in  such 
gatherings  as  this.  When  our  Methodist  brethren 
began  organizing  their  Epworth  leagues,  I  began 
grumbling,  and  denouncing  them  in  my  way,  for 
breaking  into  that  magnificent  organization  of 
Christian  unity,  the  Young  People's  Society  of 
Christian  Endeavor.  Now,  alas  !  the  bad  example 
is  infectious,  and  there  is  a  movement  of  the  same 
kind  in  the  Baptist  churches — though  they  say  that 
it  isn't  like  the  Epworth  league,  that  we  may  still 
be  affiliated  with  Christian  Endeavor  unions, 
though  organized  as  Baptist  Young  People's  socie- 
ties. But  I,  partly  because  I  am  so  dogmatic  and 
denominational,  did  rejoice  in  the  privilege  the 
Christian  Endeavor  movement  afforded  me  of 
making  known  my  hearty  Christian  sympathy  with 
all  believers  and  our  essential  unity  ;  so  that  I  have 
been  protesting  right  along  against  this  new  move- 
ment, and  I  uttered  my  protest  against  it  at  our 
state  anniversary  last  month. 

I  am  glad  to  be  here  to-night.  I  congratulate 
this  old  First  church  on  her  two  hundred  years 
that  lie  in  the  past.  I  hope  that  God  will  make  the 
years  to  come  more  abundantly  fruitful.  I  hope 
that  God  will  multiply  the  peace  and  the  prosperity 
of  his  people,  and  that  the  Christian  fellowship 
which  exists  in  these  churches  in  Waterbury  may 
be  enlarged  more  and  more  in  the  days  to  come. 
The  botanist  goes  out  into  the  fields,  and  immedi- 
ately begins  to  classify  and  separate  and  group 
together  grasses,  plants,  trees  and  ferns,  although 
they  all  belong  to  the  same  kingdom.  The  astron- 
omer projects  his  telescope  into  the  heavens,  and 
begins  to  group  together  and  classify  the  stars, 


68  THE  WATERS  URT  CHURCHES. 

although  they  are  all  one.  It  is  one  kingdom 
of  nature,  it  is  one  celestial  sphere.  And  so  is  it 
with  us  ;  when  we  get  down  beneath  the  form, 
when  we  get  to  the  inner  heart,  the  vital  force,  the 
living  substance,  we  find,  "  whate'er  our  name  or 
sign,"  that  we  are  children  of  the  one  Father, 
holding  essentially  the  one  faith.  And,  please 
God,  we  shall  finally  dwell  together  in  the  one 
church  triumphant. 


ADDRESS  BY  THE  REV.  A.  C.  EGGLESTON, 

PASTOR  OF  THE  FIRST  METHODIST 

EPISCOPAL   CHURCH. 

I  am  always  very  glad  to  attend  exercises  of  this 
sort.  There  are  epochs  in  the  history  of  churches, 
as  well  as  in  the  lives  of  men,  that  may  well  be 
noted.  These  centennial  occasions  serve  to  make 
vivid  and  real  our  national  and  ecclesiastical  his- 
tory ;  we  go  back  into  a  real  past ;  we  take  history 
out  of  the  realm  of  fiction  and  imagination  and 
make  it  live  before  us.  To  me  personally  the  ser- 
vices of  to-day  are  full  of  the  deepest  interest ;  for 
I  am  a  descendant  by  both  my  father  and  my 
mother  from  those  who  at  the  first  wrestled  with 
the  wilderness  here  in  Connecticut ;  only  my  line 
goes  back  to  the  settlement  of  Windsor  in  1640,  and 
not  to  Mattatuck. 

To-day  by  these  exercises  we  are  led  back  to 
take  our  places  with  those  thirty  or  thirty-five 
families,  who  first  entered  the  wilderness  here  and 
grappled  with  the  earth  in  its  natural  roughness, 


THE  REV.  MR.  EGGLESTOWS  ADDRESS.         69 

to  subdue  it,  to  build  homes  for  themselves  and  to 
rear  their  children  in  the  fear  of  God.  The  rocks 
and  streams  were  here — the  hills  and  meadows  all 
untilled  and  uncultivated.  The  new  settlers  built 
twenty-five  or  thirty  log  houses,  scattered  here  and 
there,  where  now  are  the  great  churches  and  beau- 
tiful homes.  What  labor,  what  care,  what  patience, 
what  watchfulness  against  savages,  they  must  have 
exercised  !  The  meadows,  how  valuable  they  were  ; 
for  they  could  be  easily  tilled,  and  would  furnish 
pasturage  and  hay  for  cattle  and  horses  and  sheep  ! 
The  forests,  the  primeval  forests,  how  massive, 
how  hard  to  cut  down  and  clear  away  ! 

Thirty  families  came,  then,  to  settle  here  at  Mat- 
tatuck,  and  these  were  all  the  people  in  the  town, 
then  sixteen  or  seventeen  miles  long  by  nine  miles 
wide.  There  was  no  church  nearer  than  Farm- 
ington,  twenty  miles  away  ;  so  these  twenty-five  or 
thirty  families,  two  hundred  years  ago,  founded 
this  First  church  in  Waterbury.  And  I  think  that 
in  this  they  did  wisely,  for  themselves  and  for  their 
children  and  for  us. 

But  here  is  a  question  of  chronology  that 
troubles  me.  Chronology  is  a  hard  subject  to 
tackle,  anyway, — the  chronology  of  the  Bible,  of 
history,  of  geology.  Here  is  the  point :  All  this  hap- 
pened only  two  hundred  years  ago.  When  I  medi- 
tate upon  the  work  accomplished  in  this  country  ; 
when  I  think  of  these  sixty  millions  of  people  and 
these  forty-four  states  ;  when  I  think  of  the  work 
of  subjugating  the  wilderness  and  establishing  our 
homes,  our  commerce,  our  railroads,  our  telegraphs 
and  telephones  ;  when  I  think  of  our  colleges  and 
schools  and  churches — a  Christian  church  of  some 


7o  THE  WATERBURY  CHURCHES. 

sort  for  every  five  hundred  people  in  the  land — 
why,  it  seems  to  me  impossible  that  all  this  should 
have  been  wrought  out  in  two  hundred  years.  This 
is  worse  than  asking-  a  man  to  believe  the  Bible 
stories  !  We  read  in  the  Bible  how  the  Lord  led  the 
children  of  Israel  out  of  Egypt,  and  finally  placed 
David  upon  the  throne  as  the  equal  of  all  kings. 
That  took  nearly  five  hundred  years  ;  and  it  isn't 
yet  four  hundred  years  since  Columbus  first  dis- 
covered the  islands  of  the  west,  and  only  two  hun- 
dred and  seventy-one  years,  next  month,  since  the 
Pilgrims  landed  on  Plymouth  Rock.  But  this  is 
contrary  to  all  experience  !  Whoever  heard  of  a 
great  continent,  thousands  of  miles  in  extent, 
redeemed  from  the  wilderness,  subdued,  peopled, 
educated,  and  raised  to  the  very  highest  enlighten- 
ment in  two  hundred  years  ?  And  yet  the  pastor 
of  this  church  asks  me  to  believe  that  all  this  has 
been  accomplished  in  that  length  of  time,  and  he 
brings  up  his  old  records  to  prove  it.  Well,  I  want 
to  believe  it,  and  as  a  Methodist  I  suppose  I  ought 
to.  But  if  so,  I  shall  believe  that  the  age  of  God's 
wonders  has  not  passed. 

I  sometimes  think  the  churches  in  their  quiet 
lives  are  like  the  genealogies  of  the  antediluvian 
patriarchs  ;  two  hundred  years  have  to  go  by  before 
they  really  get  to  living.  It  is  written  of  Methu- 
selah that  he  was  nearly  two  hundred  years  old 
when  he  begat  Lamech.  What  that  old  patriarch 
had  been  doing  all  those  years  nobody  knows ; 
seemingly,  nothing  worth  recording.  But  at  length 
Lamech  is  born,  and  then  it  is  said,  "  Methuselah 
lived  after  he  begat  Lamech  seven  hundred  and 
eighty-two  years,  and  begat  sons  and  daughters." 


THE  REV.  MR.  EGGLESTON'S  ADDRESS.         71 

Apparently,  it  took  those  old  patriarchs  about  two 
hundred  years  to  come  to  their  maturity  ;  and  the 
same  seems  to  be  true  of  some  churches.  But 
while  it  is  pleasant  to  remember  the  past,  it  is 
still  more  pleasant  to  look  forward,  and  to  feel 
assured  that  there  is  no  reason  why  these  churches 
should  not  go  on  for  the  future,  increasing  in  piety 
and  in  every  good  work  among  men. 

I  am  not  here,  however,  to  make  a  long  speech. 
I  am  here  to  bring  to  this  First  church  of  Water- 
bury  the  Christian  greetings  of  the  Methodist 
churches  of  this  old  town.  I  bring  to  you,  Chris- 
tian brethren,  our  most  hearty  good  wishes  for 
your  continued  prosperity.  We  desire,  not  that  you 
should  decrease  in  any  way,  but  that  you  should 
increase  in  all  spiritual  grace  and  usefulness.  As 
Methodists  we  are  not  here  to  pull  down,  or  to 
hinder,  or  to  depreciate  any  good  work,  but  to  give 
hearty  fellowship  and  help  in  the  great  task  of 
caring  for  and  tilling  the  Master's  vineyard.  We 
rejoice  in  the  work  done  by  those  brave  and 
earnest  men  who  founded  and  maintained  this 
church  under  difficulties  seemingly  insurmount- 
able, and  we  pray  that  the  blessings  of  the  past 
may  only  be  prophecies  of  the  glory  which  shall 
crown  this  Zion  in  the  future.* 


*  A  careful  account  of  the  origin  of  Methodism  in  Waterbury,  and  a  history  of 
the  First  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  was  published  in  the  Waterbury  American 
of  July  sth,  1889  (weekly  edition).  It  was  written  by  Mr.  A.  F.  Abbott  for  the 
forthcoming  History  of  Waterbury. 


72  THE  WATERBURY  CHURCHES. 

PAPER  BY  MR.  D.  F.  MALTBY,  OF  THE 

SECOND  CONGREGATIONAL 

CHURCH. 

On  the  3d  of  February,  1851,  a  special  meeting 
of  the  Congregational  society  of  Waterbury  was 
"  warned  "  by  the  society's  committee,  to  meet  on 
the  evening  of  February  loth,  to  take  into  consid- 
eration, in  connection  with  other  business,  the 
organization  of  a  Second  Congregational  society. 
The  population  of  the  place  at  that  time  was  about 
5,500,  and  the  membership  of  the  church  nearly 
400.  Waterbury  had  already  become  noted  for  its 
manufacturing  industries  and  for  its  enterprising 
business  men,  many  of  whom  were  members  of  the 
Congregational  church  and  society.  They  were 
looking  forward  to  an  increased  business,  and  a 
larger  and  more  rapid  growth  of  population.  Such 
men  as  Aaron  Benedict,  P.  W.  Carter,  the  Hon. 
Green  Kendrick,  the  brothers  Philo  and  William 
Brown,  and  Edward  Scovill — men  of  broad  views 
in  business,  and  of  broad  views  also  in  regard  to 
the  moral  and  religious  wants  of  the  community — 
foresaw  the  growth  of  Waterbury,  and  recognized 
the  fact  that  while  there  was  no  dissension  in  the 
church,  and  it  was  not  so  large  as  to  make  parish 
duties  burdensome  to  the  pastor,  it  would  be  good 
and  wise  policy  to  make  fuller  provision  for  moral 
and  religious  instruction  and  church  fellowship. 

At  the  meeting  held  February  loth,  1851,  in 
answer  to  the  call,  the  following  resolution  was 
passed  : 


MR.  D.  F.  MALTBY'S  PAPER.  73 

Voted,  that  this  society  deem  it  expedient  and  necessary 
for  the  interest  of  Congregationalism,  and  also  of  our  own 
society,  that  a  new  Congregational  church  be  formed  in  this 
place. 

Voted,  that  Messrs.  Nelson  Hall,  Gideon  L.  Platt,  Charles 
Benedict,  Newton  Hine,  Jr.,  and  Dyer  Ames,  Jr.,  be  a  com- 
mittee to  procure  subscriptions  for  a  new  house  of  worship, 
and  said  subscriptions  not  to  be  binding  on  any  one  unless 
$15,000  are  pledged. 

This  at  that  time  was  considered,  and  was,  a  large 
amount  to  raise  to  start  a  new  society.  Several 
adjourned  meetings  of  the  society  were  held,  to 
hear  reports  from  the  committee  and  to  keep  alive 
the  interest.  At  the  eighth  adjourned  meeting,  held 
October  25th,  1851,  the  committee  reported,  that 
the  amount  necessary  to  make  the  subscription 
binding,  namely,  $15,000,  had  been  procured.  The 
same  evening  the  book  was  opened  for  names 
of  subscribers  to  the  new  Congregational  society. 
There  were  ten  names  subscribed  in  the  following 
order :  Charles  Benedict,  J.  M.  Burrall,  Douglas  F. 
Maltby,  Augustus  S.  Chase,  Augustus  M.  Blakesley, 
J.  Watson  White,  Edwin  A.  Lum,  Charles  Partree, 
Nelson  Hall,  and  Norton  J.  Buel.  Half  of  the 
number  have  been  chosen  deacons  of  the  Second 
church;  half  the  number  have  been  laid  away  in 
the  city  of  the  dead. 

Some  months  after  the  organization  of  the  soci- 
ety, that  is,  on  the  4th  of  April,  1852,  a  daughter 
was  born  to  the  First  church,  and  was  named  the 
Second  Congregational  church.  It  was  organized 
with  a  membership  of  fifty.  Thirty-five  were  re- 
ceived from  the  First  church,  and  fifteen  from 
twelve  other  churches.  Thirteen  of  these  are  still 
members,  thirteen  have  removed  to  other  places, 
4 


74  THE  WATERS URT  CHURCHES. 

and  twenty  -  four  have  stars  prefixed  to  their 
names. 

The  first  pastor  was  the  Rev.  Seagrove  W.  Magill, 
installed  soon  after  the  church  was  organized.  Dr. 
Magill  was  a  man  of  fine  physique  and  command- 
ing presence,  possessed  of  a  great  deal  of  dignity, 
yet  very  kind,  tender  and  fatherly — a  man  who 
won  the  confidence  and  love  of  his  people.  His 
sermons  were  carefully  written,  showing  study  of 
both  thought  and  expression,  requiring  very  close 
attention  on  the  part  of  his  hearers.  His  good 
common  sense  and  sound  judgment,  in  both  tem- 
poral and  spiritual  matters,  made  him  just  the  man 
to  lay  well  the  foundation  of  the  new  organization, 
and  the  church  still  feels  the  power  of  his  strong 
hand,  his  safe  instruction,  and  wise  counsel.  For 
twelve  years  in  this  community  he  lived  a  noble 
life  as  a  trusted  and  honored  citizen,  greatly  ad- 
mired and  beloved.* 

The  Rev.  Elisha  Whittlesey  succeeded  Mr.  Magill, 
coming  at  a  time  when  there  was  more  than  ordi- 
nary religious  interest  in  the  Sunday  school.  He 
entered  into  the  work  with  earnestness,  and  quite 
large  additions  were  made  to  the  membership  of 
the  church  soon  after  he  came.  The  church  pros- 
pered under  his  pastorate  of  nearly  six  years. 

The  Rev.  Edward  G.  Beckwith  succeeded  Mr. 
Whittlesey.  It  was  only  necessary  for  him  to 
preach  one  sermon  in  our  pulpit  to  turn  our  hearts 
toward  him.  He  was  a  man  exceedingly  attractive 
both  in  and  out  of  the  pulpit,  a  very  interesting  and 
earnest  preacher,  genial  and  sympathetic,  able  and 

*  Dr.  Magill  died  on  Sunday  morning,  January  zoth,  1884.  On  the  next  Sunday 
a  memorial  service  was  preached  by  the  Rev.  J.  G.  Davenport,  of  which  a  full 
abstract  was  published  in  the  Waterbury  American, January  28th,  1884. — EDITOR. 


ME.  D.  F.  MALTBT'S  PAPER.  75 

ready  to  adapt  himself  to  all  with  whom  he  came 
in  contact.  Preaching  the  gospel  of  Christ,  and 
living  it  in  his  daily  life,  he  reached  the  hearts  of 
his  people.  He  was  fertile  in  expedients  for  help- 
ing the  society  financially,  and  in  enlisting  all,  old 
and  young,  in  the  work  of  the  church.  The  society 
very  soon  paid  its  large  debt,  which  had  long  been 
a  heavy  load  to  carry,  and  the  church  had  a  large 
amount  of  work  constantly  before  it.  His  ministry  of 
ten  years  and  three  months  brought  both  church  and 
society  into  an  exceedingly  prosperous  condition. 

Before  Dr.  Beckwith,  who  was  securely  locked  up 
in  the  hearts  of  his  people,  left,  the  Lord  in  a  spe- 
cial manner  had  opened  the  way  for  another,  who 
was  not  to  break  the  lock,  but  to  use  the  key  in  the 
same  effective  fashion.  And  so  it  came  about  that 
the  Rev.  John  G.  Davenport,  who  had  preached  in 
Dr.  Beckwith's  pulpit  for  a  single  Sabbath,  became 
Dr.  Beckwith's  successor.  Mr.  Davenport  has  now 
entered  upon  his  eleventh  year  as  our  pastor;  the 
lock  has  not  been  broken,  but  the  key  has  opened 
it.  We  love  him  just  as  truly  as  we  did  Dr.  Beck- 
with, and  the  Lord  has  signally  blessed  his  minis- 
try— as  the  growth  of  the  church,  not  only  in  mem- 
bership but  in  Christian  character  and  activity, 
testifies. 

The  steady  and  rapid  increase  in  the  membership 
of  the  Second  church,  from  the  beginning  until  now 
will  appear  in  the  following  statement,  showing 
the  number  received  by  the  several  pastors: 

By  Mr.  Magill,  on  profession     76,  by  letter  226  ;  total,  302. 

By  Mr.  Whittlesey,       "            101,  "             86 ;      "       187. 

By  Dr.  Beckwith,          "            222,  "           180 ;      "       402. 

By  Mr.  Davenport,       "            247,  '•           298;      "       545. 

Between  pastorates,     "                4,  "             17 ;"        21 


76  THE  WATERBURT  CHURCHES. 

The  entire  number  received,  to  the  present  time,  is 
1457;  the  present  membership  is  836. 

We  went  out  from  the  mother  church  a  small 
company,  imbued  with  something  of  the  same 
spirit  she  had  in  bidding  us  go.  She  promised  us 
sympathy  and  help  as  we  might  need,  and  for  many 
years  we  had  need  of  both;  for  our  faith  was  sorely 
tried,  and  our  pockets,  which  were  not  richly  lined, 
were  heavily  taxed.  It  was  a  sorry  sight  on  the 
morning  of  January  ipth,  1857,  to  see  the  beautiful 
steeple  of  the  new  church,  lying  prostrate  on  the 
roof  of  the  buildings  south  of  it,  even  as  far  as  the 
roof  of  Irving  block,  and  the  south-west  corner  of 
the  edifice  in  ruins.  But  the  sympathy  and  help 
of  the  mother  church,  and  others,  gave  us  courage 
and  cheer. 

We  rejoice  in  uniting  with  our  beloved  and  hon- 
ored mother  in  celebrating  her  bi-centennial  birth- 
day. We  rejoice  in  the  pleasant  feeling  existing 
between  the  mother  and  the  daughter,  and  we  pray 
that  the  Lord  may  guide  and  bless  both  of  us  in  all 
our  future  history. 


POEM  BY  THE  REV.  JOHN  G.  DAVENPORT 
PASTOR  OF  THE  SECOND  CONGRE- 
GATIONAL CHURCH. 

One  night  I  was  sitting  on  Centre  sqtiare 
Charmed  with  the  scene  that  is  ever  fair, 
Watching  the  elms  in  their  silvery  glow, 
And  their  shadows  flung  on  the  grass  below; 
Noting  the  bronzes,  tall  and  grand, 


TEE  REV.  MR.  DAVENPORT'S  POEM. 

That  grace  the  common  on  either  hand, 

Catching  the  glitter  and  glint  that  play 

Like  the  flash  of  gems  on  the  fountain's  spray; 

Tracing  fantastic  figures  made 

By  paths  inwoven  with  light  and  shade; 

Glancing  anon  at  the  buildings  fair 

That  compass  so  grandly  our  famous  square. 

Many  passed  by  and  I  dreamily  heard 

The  ripple  of  laughter,  the  earnest  word, 

The  jest  of  the  flippant,  the  ribald  song, 

The  rythmic  step  of  the  hurrying  throng. 

But  little  I  thought  of  the  eager  life 

With  which  the  beautiful  scene  was  rife; 

The  pictures  wrought  in  the  evening's  glow 

Suggested  others  of  long  ago. 

The  lights  grew  dim  and  a  shadow  fell 
O'er  the  scenes  that  I  knew  and  loved  so  well. 
The  buildings  that  stood  in  their  proud  array 
Melted  like  mists  and  faded  away; 
And  on  either  side  I  could  faintly  trace 
The  rudest  of  cabins  in  their  place, 
Whose  narrow  windows  revealed  the  rays 
Of  the  twinkling  light  of  other  days; 
And  from  out  the  marshes  between  I  heard 
The  voice  of  the  frog  and  the  water-bird, 
And  a  dampness  mantled  the  evening  air 
That  chilled  my  soul  like  a  grim  despair. 

The  scene  was  shifted,  and  now  the  breeze 
Swept  sadly  sighing  through  forest  trees; 
And  out  on  the  night  air,  shrill  and  high, 
From  the  hill-top  rang  the  wild  beast's  cry. 
T  turned,  and  where  Harmony  has  her  home, 


77 


78  THE  WATERBURY  CHURCHES. 

Uplifting  its  graceful  arch  and  dome, 

A  wigwam  was  standing,  with  skins  apart, 

And  a  fire  within  with  a  crimson  heart, 

And  round  the  glow,  on  the  earthen  floor, 

A  cluster  of  savages,  half  a  score. 

Some  fashioned  their  arrows,  and  some  displayed 

The  bows  that  their  skillful  hands  had  made; 

Some  told  of  the  brilliant  chase,  and  some 

Sat  like  sphinxes,  unmoved  and  dumb. 

But  while  I  was  looking,  St.  John's  sweet  bell 

To  the  present  recalled  with  its  lingering  knell, 

Proclaiming  afar  that  another  hour 

Had  passed  beyond  human  reach  and  power. 

The  radiant  picture  again  I  knew, 

To  fact,  not  fancy,  its  features  true. 

"  I  must  leave,"  said  I;  when  near  me  drew, 

As  I  thought,  a  figure  in  somber  hue, 

Of  style  antique  and  of  saintly  air, 

And  of  face  as  dignified  as  fair. 

A  startled  look  filled  his  searching  eyes, 

As  of  gravest  doubt  or  of  wild  surprise. 

With  courtesy  bowing,  he  eagerly  said, 

"  In  just  returning  from  realms  of  the  dead 

I  sought  to  discover  again  the  place, 

Familiar  so  long  with  my  form  and  face. 

And  I  thought  it  was  here,  but  all  I  can  see 

Appears  but  a  puzzling  mystery. 

Name  for  me,  sir,  if  you  will,  this  town." 

Astonished,  I  said,  "  It  has  great  renown; 

Do  you  carry  a  watch  ? "  and  the  words  we  sing 

Regarding  the  "  everlasting  spring  " 

Suggested  their  most  irrelevant  rhyme. 

But  I  murmured,  "  You  take  no  note  of  time. 


THE  REV.  MR.  DAVENPORTS  POEM.  79 

'Tis  Waterbury  town,"  said  I; 

"A  place  where  so  many  would  live  and  die 

That  real  estate  is  exceedingly  high ; 

Where  brass  is  moulded  to  forms  untold, 

And  ever  transmuted  to  shining  gold; 

Where  hammer  and  anvil  ne'er  cease  to  ring, 

Nor  busiest  wheels  to  whirl  and  sing; 

Where  " — but  he  stopped  me.     "  Somewhere  here 

I  preached  the  gospel  for  many  a  year, 

But  just  where  it  was,  I'm  not  so  clear. 

I  thought  I  remembered  the  sacred  spot, 

But  going  thither,  my  soul  waxed  hot 

At  finding  uplifted  toward  the  sky 

A  brazen  horse  on  an  altar  high, 

An  idol  vaunting  itself  just  there 

Where  I  warned  them  of  idols  to  beware. 

Shocked  at  the  horrible  sight  I  had  seen, 

I  fled  to  the  opposite  end  of  the  green, 

When,  lo,  on  another  altar  there, 

The  form  of  a  woman  appeared  in  air. 

Whether  Fate  or  Fury,  I  could  not  tell, 

Or  Diana  of  Ephesus,  noted  well, 

Or  the  Virgin  Mary,  or  other  dame; 

But  my  soul  was  crushed  with  the  awful  shame. 

And  I  saw  (and  no  grief  could  equal  mine) 

The  lighted  candles  about  her  shrine. 

Oh  tell  me,  sir,  can  it  truly  be 

That  this  town  has  lapsed  to  idolatry  ? " 

"  Oh  no,"  I  answered,  with  stifled  laugh, 
"  Don't  take  our  horse  for  a  golden  calf. 
We  never  worship  yon  prancing  steed, 
Preferring  a  record  for  better  speed. 
And  as  for  the  woman  over  there, 


8o  THE  WATERS  URT  CHURCHES. 

With  the  coronet  circling  her  nut-brown  hair, 
It's  Victory,  holding  the  wreath  of  bays 
For  the  heroes  worthy  of  deathless  praise. 
If  a  woman  we  worshipped,  we'd  bow  the  knee 
To  a  creature  of  not  so  high  metal  as  she. 

"  But,  please  sir,  who  are  you  ? "  I  now  inquired, 
For  to  know  the  quaint  visitor  I  aspired. 
Said  he,  "  When  I  threaded  this  spacious  park 
And  here  was  abiding,  they  called  me  '  Mark.' 
Through  more  than  a  century's  half  I  stood 
For  all  I  thought  noble  and  pure  and  good, 
And  tried,  with  such  powers  as  I  had,  to  win 
The  people  I  loved  from  the  grasp  of  sin. 
The  fruit  of  my  labor  I  do  not  know; 
They've  wholly  forgotten,  ah,  long  ago, 
The  earnest  words  that  I  uttered  here, 
And  him  who  spake  them,  I  greatly  fear. 
All  is  so  changed;  it  cannot  be 
That  Waterbury  remembers  me. 
I've  even  failed  to  discover  my  bones, 
Or  decipher  on  plainest  memorial  stones 
The  name  that  once  was  accounted  dear; 
Alas,  alas,  they're  ungrateful  here." 

"Why,  Reverend  Mark  Leaven  worth!  "  I  replied; 
"  Your  name  and  your  influence  have  not  died. 
The  seeds  of  truth  that  you  planted  here 
Yield  blossom  and  fruitage,  year  by  year. 
Look  over  this  busy,  progressive  town, 
Extending  the  fertile  valley  down, 
And  climbing  the  slopes  to  the  sunny  height 
That  watches  and  guards  us  on  left  and  right; 
Consider  the  palaces  here  of  toil, 


THE  REV.  MR.  DAVENPORTS  POEM.          81 

The  beautiful  homes  that  garland  the  soil, 

The  buildings  reared  for  the  children's  weal, 

And  the  temples  where  thousands  humbly  kneel; 

Observe  how  the  bustle  of  life  is  here 

With  its  ceaseless  vigor  and  hope  and  cheer, 

And  in  all  that  is  best  in  this  noble  town 

You've  a  right  to  discover  your  own  renown. 

You  and  the  others  laid  broad  and  sure 

Foundation  stones  that  shall  ever  endure. 

Integrity  flawless  and  purpose  true, 

The  justice  that  never  withholds  the  due, 

A  public  spirit  that's  high  and  strong, 

Conscience  to  scuttle  the  public  wrong, 

Regard  for  the  welfare  of  man  that  sees 

Far  over  the  bounds  of  present  ease, — 

All  this  in  the  early  days  you  taught, 

And  thus  for  the  future  you  grandly  wrought. 

And  so,  while  your  bones  may  be  disinterred 

And  to  peaceful  and  honored  couch  transferred, 

Your  life  'mid  these  latest,  most  stirring  days 

Goes  throbbing  on  through  our  crowded  ways, 

And  Waterbury  's  responsive  still 

To  the  force  of  your  sturdy  and  manly  will." 

The  old  man  smiled,  and  he  asked,  "  But  where 
Now  worship  the  people  of  my  care  ? " 
I  pointed  at  once  to  the  graceful  spire 
All  flooded  and  gilt  with  electric  fire: 
"  Here  in  a  temple  both  rich  and  strong 
Your  dear  old  church  is  uplifting  its  song, 
And  worshipping  Him,  with  reverent  soul, 
Who  lives  unchanged  while  the  ages  roll." 
"  But  who  stands  now  where  I  stood,  to  tell 
The  slippery  ways  that  lead  to  hell  ? " 


82  THE  WATERBURY  CHURCHES. 

"  One  Joseph  now  points  to  the  heavenly  bliss, 

And  urges  the  people  to  strive  for  this." 

"  Not  Joseph  Bellamy,  here  returned, 

A  mightier  logic  having  learned  ? 

Ah,  here  he  would  often  weave  his  chain 

From  a  fervid  heart  and  glowing  brain, 

And  with  it  would  leave  his  listeners  bound 

As  under  a  magic  spell  profound. 

He  cannot  be  here  again  to  show 

The  ills  that  the  non-elect  shall  know  ?  " 

"  That  Bethlehem  star  is  set,"  I  said, 

"  Your  ancient  Bellamy's  with  the  dead. 

Perchance  were  he,  sainted,  to  come  again 

To  labor  on  earth  for  the  souls  of  men, 

He  long  might  live  as  a  man  at  large, 

Enrolled  as  a  minister  "without  charge." 

The  world  has  been  moving,  as  you  must  know, 

Since  he,  sir,  and  you  in  death  lay  low. 

Old  issues  are  passing,  new  truths  appear, 

Earth's  vision  is  broadening  year  by  year. 

The  clergyman  stands  of  his  age  a  part, 

The  product  of  forces  that  pulse  in  its  heart, 

Athrill  with  its  thought  and  aglow  with  its  zeal, 

Discerning  the  false  and  embracing  the  real 

That  leap  into  view  at  the  turn  of  the  wheel. 

His  sensitive  spirit  is  pained  with  the  need 

Of  society  given  to  lust  and  to  greed, 

And  he  eagerly  lifts  to  the  view  of  mankind 

The  perfect  ideal,  the  heavenly  mind, 

Strength  wedded  with  gentleness,  virtue  unpriced, 

The  splendor  of  manhood,  the  crown  of  the  Christ. 

And  thus  (while  its  product)  he  fashions  his  age, 

And  leads  ever  up  to  a  worthier  stage; 

His  voice  as  the  trumpet  whose  musical  peal 


THE  REV.  MR.  DAVENPORT'S  POEM.  83 

To  conflict  calls  onward,  to  conquest  as  real. 
Our  Joseph,  succeeding  you  here,  we  esteem 
As  a  man  for  his  time,  in  his  office  supreme, 
Awake  to  the  truth  and  the  need  of  the  hour 
And  bringing  to  duty  high  culture  and  power." 

My  visitor  listened,  and  studied  the  while 
The  church  uplifting  its  shadow-wreathed  pile. 
He  seemed  to  be  dreaming  of  years  that  are  past 
As  he  waited  in  silence;  then  suddenly  asked, 
"  How  solves  he  the  question,  profound  and  sublime, 
The  deepest  and  grandest  inquiry  of  time  ?  " 
My  mind  flew  at  once  to  the  themes  of  our  thought 
Whose  study  had  special  perplexity  brought. 
The  mode  of  creation,  direct  or  by  stages, 
The  author  or  authors  of  Pentateuch  pages, 
Free  trade  or  protection  as  best  for  a  nation, 
The  Andover  view  of  post-mortem  probation, 
Prohibition  or  license,  the  Gospel  of  John — 
Are  a  few  of  the  points  that  I  lingered  upon; 
But  what  was  the  query  he  questioned  about, 
I  shortly  confessed  I  was  somewhat  in  doubt. 
"  I  mean,  sir,"  now  turning  in  wonder  to  me, 
"  How  God  can  be  sovereign,  and  man  can  be  free. 
The  question  we  struggled  with,  year  after  year, 
And  settled  with  logic  as  weighty  as  clear, 
But  found,  having  ended  and  laid  down  our  pen, 
That  the  question  was  there  to  be  settled  again. 
Has  this,  my  successor,  'mid  time's  evolution, 
Secured  what  is  truly  a  valid  solution  ? " 

"  He's  come  quite  as  near  it,"  I  answered,  "  as  man 
In  the  dim  light  of  earth  ever  needs  to,  or  can. 
A  word  that  explains  it  has  dropped  from  above, 


84  THE  WATERS  VRT  CHURCHES, 

As  sweet  as  the  music  of  angels;  'tis  Love. 
The  love  of  the  Father  that  streams  to  the  earth 
Brings  sunshine  and  beauty  and  gladness  to  birth. 
Incarnate  in  blossom,  in  verdure,  in  song, 
In  perfume  and  tint  that  to  summer  belong, 
In  the  sweetness  of  meadow,  the  lustre  of  sky, 
The  glory  of  worlds  that  sweep  silently  by, — 
This  love,  from  the  fathomless  Spirit  divine, 
Doth  man  in  its  tenderness  ever  enshrine; 
Awakens  his  pulses  and  nurtures  the  flame 
That  flashes  and  glows  in  his  marvellous  frame; 
Endows  him  with  passion  and  eager  desire, 
With  affections  that  thrill  and  hopes  that  inspire; 
Gives  home  for  his  solace,  the  world  for  the  field 
That  shall  discipline,  skill  and  development  yield; 
Bestows  princely  honor  through  all  of  life's  span, 
Conferring  the  freedom  that  makes  him  a  man. 
Love  maketh  him  free,  and  love  sits  on  the  throne, 
Claiming  sovereignty  full  and  forever  its  own. 
So  to  us,  freedom  here  and  dominion  above 
Are  but  phases  of  one  indivisible  love." 

A  shake  of  his  head  made  me  feel,  I  confess, 
That  my  speaking  for  Joseph  was  not  a  success. 
While  listening  with  patience  sublime,  he  turned 
And  looked  westward  through  eyes  that  with  eager- 
ness burned. 

"  Come  with  me,"  said  he,  "  to  where  in  my  youth 
I  won  the  sweet  love  of  the  beautiful  Ruth." 
Together  we  walked  down  the  broad  highway 
That  beamed  in  a  glory  like  breaking  day. 
"  What  candles  are  these  ? "  he  asked  in  amaze, 
Shielding  his  eyes  from  the  tear-bringing  blaze. 
"  O,  these  were  invented  a  decade  ago; 


THE  EEV.  ME.  DAVENPORTS  POEM.  85 

The  wicks  are  of  carbon;  you  see  how  they  glow. 
The  tallow  is  lightning;  yoii've  seen  it  at  play; 
It  is  caught  and  enclosed,  and  it  shines  like  the 

day." 

As  we  passed  to  the  corner  of  Willow  and  Main  * 
My  companion  began  in  a  musical  strain 
To  tell  of  the  memories  leaping  to  birth, 
As  if  from  the  soil  of  this  cubit  of  earth. 

"  'Twas  here  I  won  the  maid,"  he  said, 

"  I  well  recall  the  hour 
When  first  she  on  my  bosom  lay, 

A  pure  and  perfect  flower. 

'Twas  in  the  glowing  summer-time 

When  skies  were  blue  and  gold, 
And  heavenly  peace  seemed  everywhere 

Creation  to  enfold. 

I'd  just  received  an  urgent  call 

To  preach  the  gospel  here, 
But  felt  that  first  of  all  the  flock 

I  must  secure  her  ear. 

The  shadows  pointed  toward  the  east 
Whence  glories  new  should  dawn; 

I  ^looked  for  glory  to  my  soul 
Ere  daylight  should  be  gone. 

With  throbbing  heart  I  hither  came, 

Uncertain  of  my  fate, 
Eager,  yet  loath,  to  pass  within 

Her  father's  wicket  gate. 

*  The  venerable  visitor,  dazed  by  his  surroundings,  had  apparently  forgotten 
that  the  scene  here  reported  occurred  in  Northbury,  to  which  place  the  lady's 
father,  Jeremiah  Peck,  had  removed  in  1738,  the  year  before  Mr.  Leavenworth's 
call  to  Waterbury.— J.  G.  D. 


86  THE  WATERS UR 7   CHURCHES. 

Just  here,  beside  the  cottage  wall, 

The  clustering  lilacs  made 
A  bower  of  beauty  and  of  peace 

Enwrapped  in  deepest  shade. 

What  was  my  joy  to  see  the  girl 

Sit  spinning  here  alone, 
As  dignified,  and  calm  and  sweet 

As  queen  upon  her  throne. 

Her  profile  only  was  in  view, 

But  this  was  classic  grace; 
And  filmy  wreaths  of  sunny  hair 

Bordered  the  noble  face. 

I  saw  that  while  she  twirled  the  wheel, 

Her  eyes  would  oft  incline 
To  letters  which  I  recognized 

(O  blessed  fact !)  as  mine. 

Against  the  background  of  the  years 

That  picture  still  I  see, — 
The  maiden  at  her  spinning-wheel, 

So  beautiful  to  me. 

Her  robe  was  homespun,  white  and  blue, 

Her  folded  kerchief  gray, 
Her  snowy  apron  wrought  with  flowers, 

The  apple-blooms  of  May. 

Her  brow  was  decked  with  dainty  cap, 
A  rosebud  gemmed  her  breast; 

She  wore  a  look  of  thoughtfulness 
And  yet  of  peace  and  rest. 

She  charmed  me  as  I  stood  and  gazed, 
She  seemed  so  pure  and  fair; 

I  could  have  thought  an  angel  sat 
In  her  old  oaken  chair. 


THE  REV.  MR.  DAVENPORT'S  POEM.  87 

'  O  Ruth,  my  Ruth,'  at  length  I  said, 

And  hastened  to  her  side; 
'  I've  come  to  give  you  all  my  heart, 

And  pray  you  be  my  bride.' 

She  started,  and  the  mantling  blush 

Rose  over  cheek  and  brow; 
Will  you  be  mine  ? '  I  eager  said, 
'  O  tell  me,  tell  me  now.' 

She  sat  me  down  beside  her  there 

Within  the  lilacs'  shade, 
And  said,  '  Of  that  of  which  you  speak, 

I  earnestly  have  prayed. 

And  yet  I  cannot  clearly  see 

The  way  my  feet  should  tread, 
And  know  not  if  my  heart  be  right 

In  urging  me  to  wed. 

Our  God  has  called  you  to  a  course 

Of  duty  grand  and  high, 
A  work  too  lofty  to  be  shared 

With  one  so  weak  as  I. 

I  think  I  love  the  holy  Lord, 

And  wish  his  will  to  do; 
And  so  I  wait  his  certain  sign 

That  I  should  go  with  you.' 

'Ruth,  let  us  pray,'  I  humbly  said; 

We  fell  upon  our  knees; 
I  heard  the  robin's  happy  song,     . 

The  whisper  of  the  trees. 

'  O  Thou,  whose  mighty  reign  is  love, 

Reveal  to  us  thy  way, 
O  take  us,  guide  us  as  thou  wilt, 

Unitedly  we  pray.' 


88  THE  WATERS URT  CHURCHES. 

As  we  uprose,  Ruth  turned  to  me 

And  placed  her  hand  in  mine; 
'  I'm  yours,'  she  said,  '  my  soul  receives 

The  Master's  holy  sign. 

For,  as  you  prayed,  a  glory  fell 

That  filled  my  raptured  heart, 
And  in  it  came  a  voice  to  me: 

With  him  till  death  shall  part.' 

She  laid  her  cheek  upon  my  breast, 

Her  eyes  agleam  with  bliss, 
And  then  with  holy  tenderness 

I  gave  the  virgin  kiss. 

And  nature  seemed  athrill  with  song, 

Rose-fragrance  filled  the  air, 
A  brighter  sun  was  pouring  down 

Its  glory  everywhere. 

The  months  rolled  by,  and  when  at  length 

I  here  found  blest  employ, 
A  bride  I  brought  her  to  my  home, 

My  youth's  sweet  strength  and  joy." 

The  speaker  had  ceased,  but  continued  to  gaze 
In  the  gloom  at  bright  visions  of  earlier  days; 
And  his  tears  that  fell  like  the  drops  of  the  sky 
Proved  it's  pathos  to  live  and  it's  pathos  to  die. 

Together  we  came  to  the  centre  again, 

And  he  questioned  of  much  that's  occurred  among 

men. 

"  Who  governs  Connecticut  now  ? "  said  he, 
And  I  tried  to  explain  of  the  possible  three, 
Each  claiming  the  chief  of  the  state  to  be. 
I  fear  that  my  language  was  not  quite  plain, 


THE  REV.  MR.  DAVENPORT'S  POEM.  89 

For  he  quickly  added,  "  A  wonderful  gain, 

If  governors  three  are  now  needed  to  reign  !  " 

And  I  briefly  told  of  the  nation  great, 

Built  up  of  sovereign  state  on  state; 

Of  the  flag  of  the  glorious  stripe  and  star 

Proclaiming  liberty  near  and  far; 

Of  the  lands  magnificent  we  have  won, 

Spread  out  from  the  rise  to  the  set  of  sun; 

Of  the  power  of  the  nation,  great  and  high, 

Which  nothing,  but  Chili,  dares  defy; 

Of  the  hope  we  have  that  in  coming  time 

The  people  of  every  race  and  clime, 

Like  the  dwellers  upon  this  favored  shore, 

Shall  exult  in  plenty  and  power;  and  more, 

In  the  purity,  peace  and  life  divine 

That  flow  from  the  gospel's  holy  shrine. 

As  I  spoke  at  last  of  this  gladsome  day, 
When  churches  and  people  should  come  to  pay 
Their  gratulations  to  one  that  has  told 
Her  centuries  twain,  our  mother  old, 
He  said,  "  How  gladly  I'd  meet  them  there, 
To  speak  of  her  record  so  grand  and  fair  ! 
But,  lest  I  be  absent  those  golden  days, 
I'll  voice  for  her  now  a  song  of  praise." 
And  his  melody  rang  on  the  midnight  air, 
And  rose  to  God  like  the  soul  of  prayer: 

"  Glorious  Lord,  whose  praises  ever 

Rise  from  earth  and  rolling  sea, 
And  whose  honors  starry  heavens 

Rapturous  chant  eternally  ! 
Hear  us,  Father, 

While  we  lift  our  song  to  thee. 


9o 


THE  WATERBURY  CHURCHES. 

Thou  did'st  grant  thy  grace  and  favor 
To  the  fathers  when  they  prayed; 

Through  the  wilderness  did'st  lead  them 
When  they  humbly  sought  thine  aid; 

Hear  us,  Father, 
For  on  thee  our  souls  are  stayed. 

For  the  mother  church  we  bless  thee, 
For  the  long  and  faithful  years 

She  has  borne  her  holy  witness 
To  the  God  that  calmed  her  fears; 

Guide  her,  Father, 
Through  her  gladness  and  her  tears. 

For  the  souls  who  here  have  sought  thee, 

And  the  seeking  surely  find; 
For  the  noble  sons  and  daughters 

Who  have  gone  to  bless  mankind, 
Lord,  we  thank  thee, 

Give  to  us  the  Christlike  mind. 

On  thy  servant  who  delivers 

Here  thy  message  sweet  of  love, 

Shed  the  richest,  holiest  blessing 
From  the  radiant  courts  above; 

O'er  him  ever 
Spread  thy  wings,  O  heavenly  Dove. 

When  the  work  of  life  is  ended, 

And  the  weary  journey  o'er, 
With  the  precious  saints  departed 

May  we  tread  the  golden  shore, 
And,  O  Father, 

Worthily  thy  love  adore." 


III. 


THE  MOTHER  AND  DAUGHTERS. 


THE  CHURCH  IN   FARMINGTON. 

BY    THE    REV.    EDWARD    A.    SMITH. 

The  designation  of  one  church  as  mother,  and  of 
another  as  daughter,  has  been  frequent  on  this 
occasion.  Your  courteous  circular  of  invitation 
refers  to  your  own  church  as  the  mother  of  Water- 
town,  Plymouth,  Wolcott  and  other  churches,  and 
finally  in  all  dutifulness  speaks  of  the  old  church 
at  Farmington  as  the  "  mother  of  us  all."  This  use 
of  the  words  "  mother  "  and  "  daughter  "  is  wholly 
appropriate,  and  yet  a  person  who  is  in  the  habit 
of  asking  himself  questions  will  presently  begin 
weighing  the  words,  "  mother  church  "  and  "  daugh- 
ter church,"  and  asking  how  much  of  a  truly 
maternal  and  filial  relation  has  existed  between 
Farmington  and  Waterbury. 

The  plain  truth  confronts  us  that  there  is  at 
present  no  intimacy  between  mother  and  daughter. 
With  all  friendliness,  there  is  still  no  direct  and 
immediate  intercourse  between  the  two  bodies. 
Was  it  ever  otherwise  ?  The  old  records,  to  which 
one  at  first  naturally  turns  for  an  answer,  surprise 
us  by  their  silence  on  this  point.  It  seems  strange 
to  say  it,  but  the  old  books  of  the  two  churches 
scarcely  betray  the  fact  that  one  church  knew  of 
the  existence  of  the  other.  The  Farmington  church 
indeed,  when  men  first  began  to  settle  at  Matta- 
tuck,  laid  a  hand  of  remonstrance  on  certain  men 
by  the  name  of  Judd  and  on  a  certain  other  named 
Standley,  saying  to  William  Judd  that  they  "  see 
not  his  call  to  remove  on  account  of  any  strait 


94          THE  MOTHER  AND   THE  DAUGHTERS. 

ness  for  outward  subsistence,"  and  counselled  him, 
'"if  it  may  be  with  satisfaction  to  his  spirit  to  con- 
tinue his  abode  with  them."  The  whole  party  they 
urge  (there  being  as  yet  no  church  established  in 
the  new  region)  to  be  "wary  of  engaging  far  until 
some  comfortable  hopes  appear  of  being  suited 
for  the  inward  man."  This  caution,  you  will  no- 
tice, was  given  to  settlers  previous  to  the  formation 
of  the  church.  But  when  the  church  at  Mattatuck 
was  finally  organized  there  is  no  mention  made  of 
the  fact;  there  is  no  large  written  entry  running 
across  the  page  to  record  the  birth  of  a  new  church. 
Truly,  so  far  as  the  old  pages  go,  these  churches 
were  mother  and  daughter  only  as  the  ledge  of  rock 
on  the  hillside  is  mother  to  the  big  boulder  which 
has  rolled  down  to  the  meadow  below.  The  boulder 
and  the  ledge  have  parted,  and  are  nothing  to  one 
another  henceforth.  So,  if  one  look  no  further 
than  the  surface,  did  Farmington  and  Waterbury 
apparently  lead  separate  and  distinct  existences. 

But  if  any  one  should  infer  that  these  churches 
were  in  reality  strangers  to  one  another,  he  would 
greatly  err.  No  !  they  were  really  in  close  contact, 
the  currents  of  life  flowing  continually  from  one  to 
another.  All  along  through  their  history  these 
churches,  and  indeed  all  churches  of  Connecticut, 
present  one  type  of  feeling,  of  doctrine,  of  usage, 
and  this  similarity  of  type  would  indicate  contin- 
ual intercourse  and  interdependence.  It  might 
well  be  that  old  German  villages  a  few  miles  apart, 
and  with  a  mountain  between  them,  should  diverge 
greatly  in  dialect  and  usage  and  dress;  but  these 
Connecticut  churches,  though  twenty  miles  apart, 
were  really  near  neighbors  in  spiritual  things. 


THE  CHURCH  IN  FARMINQTON.  95 

Indeed  all  the  twenty-five  churches  of  the  state 
were  in  pretty  close  connection  with  one  another. 
Distinct  organizations,  they  yet  formed  a  homoge- 
neous body  of  great  unanimity  of  sentiment. 

There  were  several  forces  which  tended  to  press 
the  settlements  and  churches  near  together.  One 
of  these  was  the  Indian,  who  by  perpetual  menace 
of  tomahawk  and  torch  did  unintentional  mission- 
ary work  in  making  men  discover  the  goodness 
and  pleasantness  of  brethren  dwelling  together  in 
unity.  Especially  in  frontier  towns  like  these, 
white  men  found  themselves  forced  into  a  certain 
harmony  of  feeling  as  a  defence  against  their  sav- 
age neighbors. 

Another  compacting  pressure  was  found  in  their 
similar  religious  perils.  They  had  to  fight  hard  to 
keep  up  Christian  faith  and  practice,  amid  the  hard- 
ships and  anxieties  of  frontier  life.  It  is  very  easy 
for  settlers  in  a  new  country  to  let  religious  life 
burn  low.  And  these  early  Christian  people  in 
Connecticut  in  their  earnest  struggle  against  hea- 
thenism among  themselves  were  able  the  better  to 
understand  one  another's  experience.  They  became 
readily  sympathetic  with  one  another,  as  is  natural 
for  men  who  are  fighting  the  same  battle  with  the 
same  resolute  purpose.  It  is  possible  that  their 
opportunities  for  intercouse  were  limited,  yet  these 
men,  craving  contact  with  neighboring  towns  and 
churches,  came  quickly  to  an  understanding  with 
one  another,  and  the  occasional  intercourse  which 
was  possible  went  far  in  the  way  of  promoting  a 
sense  of  fellowship. 

The  fellowship  of  the  churches  was  still  further 
advanced  by  the  sessions  of  the  General  Court. 


96          THE  MOTHER  AND   THE  DAUGHTERS. 

The  churches  were  virtually  all  present  there,  by 
their  ministers  or  prominent  church  members. 
Their  continual  association  with  one  another  on 
that  floor,  as  well  as  the  discussion  of  matters 
belonging  to  the  churches  (which  made  up  a  large 
part  of  the  business  of  the  legislature),  was  one 
prolonged  process  of  weaving  the  church  life  of 
one  section  with  that  of  another.  This  body  was 
not  unlike  a  house  of  bishops  in  its  care  of  the 
churches.  It  decided,  for  instance,  that  one  church 
must  hasten  to  get  a  preacher;  that  a  complainant 
from  another  church  had  no  ground  for  complaint; 
it  granted  or  refused  permission  to  form  new 
churches.  In  this  body,  as  in  a  forum,  the  leading 
men  of  each  community  touched  the  men  of  other 
towns  and  churches,  and  gave  and  received  thought 
and  sentiment  on  religious  affairs. 

Finally,  there  came  the  interesting  experiment 
which  the  Connecticut  churches  made  in  harness- 
ing themselves  up  into  a  stiff  ecclesiastical  fellow- 
ship. Good  understanding  and  order  were  to  be 
compulsory.  Ministers  of  a  county  or  half  county 
were  to  be  put  in  groups  charged  to  keep  the  min- 
istry pure.  Churches  and  ministers  were  put  into 
yet  other  groups  called  "  consociations,"  and  were 
made  responsible  for  good  religious  order  in  their 
dioceses.  It  was  an  armor  which  they  could  not 
wear  long.  Before  long  it  was  to  be  laid  aside; 
but  the  effort  to  give  themselves  close  coherence 
showed  first  of  all  the  enjoyment  of  a  fellowship 
already  existing.  The  almost  unanimous  accept- 
ance of  the  Saybrook  system  was  proof  of  a  strong 
consensus  in  favor  of  the  system,  and  the  existence 
of  such  a  common  consent  is  evidence  that  a  cer- 


THE  CHURCH  IN  FARM1NGTON.  97 

tain  amount  of  fellowship  had  already  come  into 
being-.  But  beside  showing  the  existence  of  fellow- 
ship, the  system  provided  for  a  further  develop- 
ment of  it.  The  meetings  of  the  various  ecclesias- 
tical bodies  thus  established  brought  men  into  fre- 
quent and  close  contact  with  one  another.  Although 
the  records  are  strangely  silent,  the  fact  that  men's 
hearts  were  warmed  by  Christian  fellowship  cannot 
be  hidden.  It  lies  written  in  records  which  are 
better  interpreters  of  life  than  those  yellow  pages 
which  make  up  the  early  archives  of  the  church. 

But  this  community  of  feeling  is  not  a  thing 
simply  of  the  past.  It  is  a  happy  reality  of  the 
present.  There  are  now  more  avenues  of  commu- 
nication open  between  churches,  and  there  is  more 
of  interchange  of  sentiment  between  them,  than 
men  are  wont  to  suppose.  Such  measure  of  firm- 
ness and  warmth  of  Christian  faith  as  we  happen  to 
possess  would,  if  it  were  realized,  prove  to  be 
largely  reinforced  and  braced  by  the  goodly  fellow- 
ship of  the  churches.  To  a  very  large  degree  we 
are  aided  by  influences  which  circle  among  the 
churches,  coming  in  to  us  at  our  windows  and  flow- 
ing out  again  to  regions  beyond. 

Now  in  view  of  this  comradeship  of  the  churches 
we  owe  it  to  ourselves  to  recognize  it  and  to  get 
the  good  which  it  is  designed  to  do  us.  In  this 
connection  we  may  properly  ask  ourselves  whether 
we  ought  not  to  make  more  of  the  gathering  of 
churches  in  conferences  and  the  like.  Possibly 
some  of  us  have  a  distaste  for  these  meetings.  But 
believe  me,  many  a  man  who  has  gone  to  such  places 
prepared  to  be  wearied  with  much  dullness  and 
many  infelicities  has  in  this  unpretending  assembly 
5 


98          THE  MOTHER  AND   THE  DAUGHTERS. 

found  an  outlook  given  to  him  upon  a  wider  field 
of  the  Christian  life,  and  an  opportunity  afforded 
for  beholding  a  type  of  religion  different  from  his 
own,  but  noble,  interesting  and  profitable  to  con- 
template. The  Book  of  Revelation  speaks  of  a  cer- 
tain voice  as  being  like  a  voice  of  many  waters. 
Such  a  manifoldness  of  voice  a  man  may  detect  if, 
with  ear  ready  to  hear,  he  will  sit  and  listen  in 
some  of  these  assemblages  of  the  churches.  If  he 
has  a  soul  at  all  in  sympathy  with  human  life,  he 
will  hear  (from  among  the  commonplace  and  the 
tedious,  always  to  be  met  with  in  such  places)  a 
voice  varied  and  rich  with  the  manifoldness  of 
human  experience. 

We  are  set  round  about  with  a  savagery  not  of 
war  paint,  but  a  savagery  of  immoralities,  dishon- 
esties, quiet  cruelties  and  selfish  unbeliefs,  and  we 
need  that  help  which  can  be  got  by  contact  with 
friends  and  by  the  sight  of  the  regiments,  divisions 
and  corps  of  that  great  army  of  which  we  are  a 
part.  In  view  of  this  fellowship  of  the  churches 
we  owe  it  also  to  others  to  recognize  it  and  to  see 
to  it  that  the  strength  of  some  be  brought  to  the 
support  of  such  other  parts  of  our  commonwealth 
as  are  weak.  There  are  great  changes  going  on. 
In  one  place  the  change  consists  of  a  coming  in  of 
foreign  life,  and  the  local  church  cannot  alone 
grapple  with  it.  In  other  places  our  sympathies 
are  touched  by  the  decay  of  the  old  New  England 
life.  When  the  farmhouses  are  falling  to  pieces, 
decay  threatens  also  the  old  church.  Old  and  fail- 
ing towns  tend  to  become  bad  towns;  and  these  are 
a  source  of  infinite  harm  to  the  state.  Bad  men 
and  women  will  come  from  them  into  your  commu- 


THE  CHURCH  IN  WATERTOWN.  99 

nities;  bad  streams  will  flow  into  state  politics; 
foul  vapors  will  float  down  and  rest  on  the  life  of 
the  commonwealth.  But  where  weakness  appears, 
the  strength  which  other  regions  can  furnish 
should  be  brought  to  its  aid.  In  old  times  the 
churches,  as  we  have  said,  were  members  one  of 
another;  and  we  of  this  day  are  no  less  closely 
knit  in  interest  with  our  sister  churches.  The  prob- 
lem of  the  city  is  one  to  be  studied  by  all  of  the 
churches.  The  problem  of  the  country  towns  be- 
longs also  to  all  of  us.  It  cannot  be  solved  by  those 
who  are  in  immediate  contact  with  the  evil,  but 
must  be  taken  up  by  all  the  churches  of  the  state. 
The  robust  and  well-to-do  are,  by  means  of  their 
courage  and  gifts,  to  aid  in  bearing  burdens  which 
rest  very  heavily  on  other  parts  of  the  state. 

The  churches  of  Waterbury,  Farmington  and  those 
which  have  sprung  up  in  this  region  since  we  went 
apart,  are  all  fingers  of  one  hand,  members  of  one 
body.  The  bond  is  no  less  real  than  it  was  in 
former  days,  nor  do  I  believe  that  the  church  is 
less  ready  to  meet  obligations  which  we  owe  as 
members  of  that  body  of  which  our  Redeemer  is 
the  Head. 


THE  CHURCH  IN  WATERTOWN. 

BY    THE    REV.    ROBERT    PEGRUM. 

Believing  that  the  records  of  church  history  give 
to  us  numerous  proofs  of  divine  faithfulness  and 
lead  us  to  remember  our  own  duties  and  privileges, 
we  do  well  thus  to  assemble  for  the  appropriate 
celebration  of  the  bi-centennial  of  the  First  church 


ioo        THE  MOTHER  AND    THE  DAUGHTERS. 

of  Christ  in  this  city.  My  part  in  these  interesting 
exercises  is  to  extend  the  heartiest  congratulations 
and  best  wishes  of  the  first-born  child  to  her  aged 
mother  on  her  two  hundredth  birthday;  and,  as  it 
always  affords  pleasure  to  parents  advanced  in 
years  to  remember  the  youthful  days  of  their  chil- 
dren, it  is  my  intention  to  remind  our  ecclesiastical 
mother  of  some  of  the  experiences  connected  with 
the  early  life  of  the  eldest  daughter. 

Watertown,  originally  a  part  of  Waterbury,  was 
first  permanently  settled  in  1721.  The  ''Public 
Records  of  the  Colony  of  Connecticut "  state  that 
in  October,  1732,  thirty-two  men  petitioned  the 
General  Court  for  "winter  privileges."  The  fol- 
lowing is  a  copy  of  the  petition: 

Whereas  a  considerable  number  of  families  in  the  northwest 
corner  of  the  bounds  of  Waterbury  town,  by  their  great  dis- 
tance from  the  meeting-house  (which  is  to  several  nine  miles 
and  to  those  that  are  nearest  three),  and  exceeding  bad  way,  and 
more  especially  by  reason  of  a  great  river,  called  Waterbury 
river,  which  for  the  great  part  of  the  winter  and  spring  is  not 
passable,  are  debarred  from  the  hearing  of  the  word  preached, 
to  the  number  of  above  thirty  families,  we  having  met 
together,  September,  1732,  and  appointed  the  subscribers,  then 
and  there  to  petition  the  town  of  Waterbury  for  an  abatement 
of  our  parts  of  the  minister's  rate  for  the  space  of  four  months 
(namely,  the  three  winter  months  of  this  present  winter  com- 
ing and  the  month  of  March  next)  in  case  we  should  hire  a 
minister  on  our  own  charge  to  preach  the  word  among  us,  and 
they,  the  rest  of  said  town,  refusing,  we  have  appointed  Dea- 
con Samuel  Brown  and  Lieutenant  Samuel  Heacock  our  com- 
mittee, to  represent  and  lay  our  difficult  circumstances  before 
this  honorable  Assembly;  and  the  humble  prayer  of  your 
memorialists  is  that  we  may  have  liberty  to  hire  a  minister  for 
the  space  of  those  four  months  before  mentioned,  being  the 
most  difficult  part  of  the  year,  at  our  own  charge,  and  that  we 
also  may  have  an  abatement  of  our  parts  of  the  minister's  rate 


THE  CHURCH  IN  WATERTOWN.  101 

and  be  discharged  from  paying  the  minister  of  the  town  of 
Waterbury  during  said  four  months,  as  we  have  a  minister 
among  us,  either  for  this  present  year  or  for  a  longer  time,  as 
you  in  your  great  wisdom  shall  think  best.  And  your  memo- 
rialists shall,  as  in  duty  bound,  ever  pray. 

This  memorial,  the  original  of  which  is  still  ex- 
tant, was  dated  October  4th,  1732,  and  signed  by 
Samuel  Brown  and  Samuel  Heacock.  On  the  back 
of  it  are  thirty-two  names,  the  list  being  headed 
by  Capt.  William  Heacock  and  Dr.  John  Warner. 
The  petition  was  granted  for  four  years. 

In  May,  1733,  they  asked  to  be  made  a  society, 
stating  that  they  had  hired  a  minister,  Mr.  Daniel 
Granger,  that  they  were  "universally  suited  in 
him  "  and  that  he  was  not  "  ill  pleased  "  with  them. 
This  petition  and  two  similar  ones,  in  May  and 
October,  1734,  were  denied.  In  October,  1736,  forty- 
five  families  asked  to  be  made  a  society,  and  were 
again  denied;  but  they  were  allowed  five  months 
"winter  privileges"  for  two  years.  In  May,  1737, 
they  asked  again  to  be  made  a  society,  and  were 
denied.  In  October,  1737,  on  petition,  a  com- 
mittee was  appointed  by  the  General  Court  to 
consider  their  case  and  report.  In  May,  1738, 
the  committee  reported  in  favor  of  their  being 
made  a  distinct  ecclesiastical  society,  and  pro- 
posed a  line  of  division;  but  Waterbury  opposed  the 
movement,  and  a  new  committee  was  appointed. 
This  committee  in  May,  1738,  reported  thirty-seven 
families  and  a  population  of  230  in  the  proposed 
society.  In  October,  1738,  the  committee  reported 
the  same  line,  and  the  petition  was  granted,  the 
society  being  named  Westbury. 

The  first  meeting  house  was  erected  in  1741. 
The  second  church  edifice  was  built  in  1772;  and, 


102        THE  MOTHER  AND   THE  DAUGHTERS. 

as  a  very  large  quantity  of  heavy  timber  was  used 
in  its  construction,  the  builders  were  obliged  to  get 
assistance  from  five  towns  in  order  to  raise  it.  The 
present  church  edifice  was  dedicated  January  29th, 
1840. 

In  May,  1739,  the  ecclesiastical  society  of  West- 
bury  had  leave  granted  them  by  the  General  Court 
"  to  embody  in  church  estate,"  that  is,  to  organize 
a  church  with  the  approval  of  neighboring  minis- 
ters and  churches.  This  church,  with  many  others, 
was  organized  as  the  result  of  the  "  great  awaken- 
ing," which  began  in  1735  an(^  continued  to  1741. 

The  first  pastor  was  the  Rev.  John  Trumbull. 
He  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1735,  an(^  was 
licensed  to  preach  by  the  New  Haven  county  Asso- 
ciation of  ministers  on  May  29th,  1739.  The  min- 
utes of  the  council  of  churches  that  ordained  Mr. 
Trumbull  are  still  to  be  seen  in  the  library  of  Yale 
University.  According  to  these  minutes,  the  exact 
date  of  his  ordination  and  installation  as  pastor  of 
this  church  was  January  i6th,  1740  (new  style). 
The  one  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the 
event  was  celebrated  in  1890.*  From  Barber's  "His- 
torical Collections  of  Connecticut "  we  learn  that 


*  The  discourse  delivered  on  this  occasion  was  published  in  pamphlet  form,  with 
the  following  title:  "A  Memorial  and  Historical  Sermon  in  celebration  of  the  One 
Hundred  and  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the  Installation  of  Rev.  John  Trumbull, 
the  First  Pastor  of  the  First  Church  of  Christ  in  Watertown,  Conn.,  Preached 
Sunday  morning,  June  i,  1890,  by  Rev.  Robert  Pegrum.  Press  of  the  Woodbury 
Reporter,  1890." 

The  centenary  of  the  incorporation  of  the  town  was  celebrated  with  public  ex- 
ercises, including  addresses  and  a  procession,  on  Thursday,  June  i7th,  1880.  An 
account  of  the  proceedings,  with  a  report  of  addresses  by  the  Hon.  F.  J.  Kings- 
bury,  the  Rev.  Nathaniel  Richardson,  D.  D.,  and  others,  was  published  in  the 
Waterbury  American  of  June  i/th  and  i8th.  At  this  celebration  an  interesting 
account  of  Episcopacy  in  Watertown  was  given  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Richardson,  but 
the  existence  of  a  Congregational  church  was  not  recognized. — F.DITOR. 


THE  CHURCH  IN  WATEBTOWN.  103 

the  ordination  took  place  at  the  house  of  Deacon 
Hickox,  about  two  miles  east  of  the  place  where 
the  church  now  stands.  Mrs.  Rebecca  Judd,  who 
lived  to  be  ninety-nine  years  old,  was  baptized  a 
few  days  afterward,  being  the  first  child  baptized 
in  the  parish.  Mr.  Trumbull  continued  in  sole 
charge  of  the  church  until  May,  1785,  when  a  col- 
league was  settled.  His  pastorate  was  terminated 
by  death  in  1787.  He  was  known  as  an  "old  light" 
in  theology,  but  was  very  popular  with  the  people, 
and  acquired  great  influence  by  his  generosity,  hos- 
pitality and  kindness.  It  is  said  that  if  one  of  his 
parishioners  had  lost  a  cow,  or  had  met  with  any 
similar  calamity,  he  would  interest  himself  in  the 
matter,  head  a  subscription  for  his  relief  and  per- 
suade others  to  sign  it.  Mrs.  Younglove  Cutler 
used  to  describe  another  way  in  which  on  a  certain 
occasion  the  pastor  raised  money  for  those  in 
trouble.  He  placed  a  dollar  in  his  cocked  hat  and 
said,  "I  am  sorry  a  dollar;"  and  then,  carrying  the 
hat  around  the  room,  asked  of  each  person,  "  How 
much  are  you  sorry  ? "  In  this  way  the  required 
amount  was  soon  obtained.  Mr.  Trumbull  was  a 
wealthy  man  and  a  large  land-holder.  In  Bronson's 
"  History  of  Waterbury  "  we  read  that  he  "  was  not 
tall,  but  a  stout,  athletic  man;  he  was  sound, 
shrewd,  humorous,  and  loved  innocent  sports." 
During  the  forty-six  years  of  his  sole  pastorate 
256  persons  were  added  to  the  church.  The  follow- 
ing is  the  inscription  upon  his  monument  in  the 
old  cemetery: 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  the  Rev.  John  Trumbull,  A.  M., 
senior  pastor  of  the  Church  of  Christ  in  Westbury,  and  one  of 
the  Fellows  of  the  Corporation  of  Yale  College,  who  died  Dec. 


104 


THE  MOTHER  AND   THE  DAUGHTERS. 


13,   1787,  in  the  seventy-third  year  of  his  age  and  the  forty- 
eighth  of  his  ministry. 

If  distinguished  learning,  industry  and  abilities,  the  most 
unaffected  piety  of  heart,  the  firmest  attachment  to  the  doc- 
trines of  the  gospel,  the  most  unblemished  moral  character,  a 
studious  attention  and  friendship  to  the  people  of  his  charge, 
the  most  cheerful  hospitality  to  his  friends,  and  ardent  charity 
to  the  poor,  which  rendered  him  respectable  in  life,  and,  in  a 
firm  reliance  on  the  merits  of  the  Redeemer,  raised  his  mind 
above  the  fear  of  death,  can  render  the  memory  of  the  deceased 
dear  to  the  survivors,  and  afford  a  worthy  example  to  pos- 
terity; Go,  reader,  and  imitate  his  virtues  !  Behold  the  upright 
man  !  His  end  is  peace. 

The  second  pastor  was  the  Rev.  Uriel  Gridley. 
He  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1783,  and  was 
ordained  as  Mr.  Trumbull's  assistant,  May  25th, 
1785.  He  remained  pastor  until  his  death,  which 
took  place  December  i6th,  1820,  in  the  fifty-eighth 
year  of  his  age  and  the  thirty-sixth  of  his  minis- 
try. He  was  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary  size  and 
finely  proportioned.  A  writer  says  of  him,  "  I  shall 
never  forget  his  majestic  dignity  and  easy  grace  as 
he  walked,  bowing  reverently,  up  the  broad  aisle, 
ascended  the  steps  to  the  pulpit,  and  turned  his 
placid,  benign  face  toward  the  audience."  During 
the  thirty-five  years  of  his  ministry,  232  persons 
were  added  to  the  church.  A  portion  of  the  inscrip- 
tion on  his  tombstone  reads  thus: 

Here  rests  in  hope  all  that  on  earth  remains 
Of  one,  whom  late  we  knew,  and  much  we  lov'd, 
As  husband,  parent,  friend  and  guide  to  heaven, — 
These  ties  all  sever'd  by  the  hand  of  death. 
Yet  mourn  we  not  as  those  who  have  no  hope, 
Our  loss,  his  gain;  our  grief,  we  trust  his  joy. 
For  him  to  live  was  Christ,  and  in  His  steps 
He  humbly  trod,  a  follower  of  the  Lamb. 


THE  CHURCH  IN  WATERTOWN.  105 

Since  that  date,  the  church  has  had  fifteen  min- 
isters, in  the  following  order:  Horace  Hooker, 
Darius  O.  Griswold,  W.  B.  DeForest,  Philo  R.  Hurd, 
D.  D.,  Chauncey  Goodrich,  George  P.  Pruden,  Sam- 
uel M.  Freeland,  Benjamin  Parsons,  Stephen  Fenn, 
George  A.  P.  Gilman,  Franklin  Tuxbury,  Charles 
P.  Croft,  Benjamin  D.  Conkling,  George  A.  Pelton, 
Robert  Pegrum.  All  the  earlier  pastors  have  fallen 
asleep  in  Jesus;  and  the  divine  word  says  concern- 
ing such,  "  Blessed  are  the  dead  who  die  in  the 
Lord  from  henceforth;  yea,  saith  the  Spirit,  that 
they  may  rest  from  their  labors;  and  their  works 
do  follow  them." 

The  church  has  been  served  by  twenty  deacons, 
as  follows:  Dr.  John  Warner,  Jonathan  Guernsey, 
Timothy  Judd,  Thomas  Hickox,  Samuel  Hickox, 
Thomas  Fenn,  Thomas  Dutton,  Jared  Harrison, 
Noah  Richards,  Jonah  Hungerford,  Charles  Day- 
ton, Clark  Davis,  Truman  Baldwin,  Benjamin  M. 
Peck,  Joel  Hungerford,  Lucius  Woodward,  Dayton 
Mattoon,  Amos  P.  Baldwin,  Samuel  T.  Dayton 
and  Henry  T.  Dayton.  The  last  two  are  still  in 
office. 

According  to  a  report  in  the  archives  at  Memo- 
rial Hall,  Hartford,  this  church  has  enjoyed  various 
seasons  of  spiritual  refreshing,  resulting  in  the 
conversion  of  many  souls.  From  the  commence- 
ment of  Mr.  Trumbull's  ministry  until  the  present 
time,  1290  persons  have  been  received  into  its  mem- 
bership. Eight  ministers  have  been  raised  up,  as 
follows:  Stephen  Fenn,  Israel  B.  Woodward, 
Aaron  Dutton,  Matthew  R.  Dutton,  Anson  S. 
Atwood,  Frederick  Gridley,  John  L.  Seymour  and 
Jesse  Guernsey,  D.  D. 


io6        THE  MOTHER  AND   THE  DAUGHTERS. 

For  many  years  the  church  has  had  an  excellent 
reputation  for  helping  forward  the  Lord's  work  in 
this  and  other  lands.  Mrs.  Dorcas  Southmayd,  who 
died  in  April,  183 2,  bequeathed  one  hundred  dollars 
to  constitute  a  perpetual  fund,  the  income  arising 
therefrom  to  be  expended  annually  for  the  benefit 
of  the  poor  members  of  the  church.  The  annual 
interest  of  the  small  amount  with  which  the  fund 
was  begun  rendered  but  little  aid;  it  was,  however, 
an  excellent  example,  and  that  example  has  been 
copied  by  successive  generations,  until  at  the  pres- 
ent time  the  income  is  sufficient  to  be  of  real  ser- 
vice to  the  Lord's  poor.  The  additions  made  to 
this  fund  in  later  years,  by  Benjamin  DeForest,  Jr., 
and  others,  have  brought  the  amount  up  to  $4,300. 
The  original  gift  was  like  a  grain  of  mustard,  in- 
significant in  appearance  ;  but  it  has  germinated 
and  become  a  tree,  the  branches  of  which  afford 
shelter  to  those  who  are  destitute. 

In  olden  times,  church  discipline  was  carried  out 
very  strictly.  As  an  example  of  what  was  required 
of  those  under  discipline,  we  quote  the  confession 
of  a  brother  who  was  charged  with  falsehood  and 
other  offences: 

In  view  of  all  these  my  faults  and  inconsistencies,  and  the 
evils  resulting  therefrom,  I  desire  to  humble  myself  before  God 
and  this  church,  and  do  sincerely  ask  his  and  their  forgiveness, 
and  earnestly  request  this  church  to  continue  to  extend  their 
fellowship  to  me. 

Of  church  votes  we  give  two  specimens,  the  first 
relating  to  singing  and  the  second  to  prayer.  In 
1792  the  church  voted  that  Watts's  hymns  be  sung 
on  sacramental  occasions,  at  the  discretion  of  the 
pastor.  In  1795  the  church  voted  to  unite  with  sis- 
ter churches  in  a  concert  of  prayer  on  the  first 


THE  CHURCH  IN  WATERTOWN.  107 

Tuesdays  in  January,  April,  July  and  October, 
according  to  the  recommendation  of  the  General 
Association. 

In  the  early  history  of  the  society,  it  was  the 
custom  to  register  not  only  the  date  but  also  the 
cause  of  death.  There  are  several  curious  entries. 
One  of  them,  relating  to  the  death  of  a  lady,  reads 
thus: 

She  lived  with  her  husband  but  ten  weeks.  He  has  buried 
two  wives  in  ten  months — a  providence  which  never  took 
place  in  Watertown  before,  and  probably  there  are  but  few 
such  instances  in  the  Christian  world.  The  ways  of  the  Lord 
are  past  finding  out. 

In  this  death-list  almost  every  kind  of  disease  is 
mentioned  from  small-pox  to  wilful  starvation. 
The  diseases  prevailing  here  most  widely  at  the 
close  of  the  eighteenth  century  were  consumption 
and  fits;  in  seven  successive  years  twenty  died 
from  consumption  and  twenty  from  fits.  The  last 
word  is  evidently  employed  in  a  generic  sense,  as 
it  is  applied  to  persons  of  all  ages.  It  has,  how- 
ever, occurred  to  me  that  not  only  individuals,  but 
churches  have  fits;  and  "  Died  of  fits  "  would  form 
an  appropriate  epitaph  for  scores  of  extinct 
churches.  Hence,  the  value  of  the  apostolic  exhor- 
tation, "  Endeavor  to  keep  the  unity  of  the  Spirit 
in  the  bond  of  peace." 


io8        THE  MOTHER  AND  THE  DAUGHTERS. 
THE  CHURCH  IN  PLYMOUTH. 

BY    THE    REV.    E.    B.    HILLARD. 

The  "  grand  committee  "  appointed  by  the  Gene- 
ral Court  of  Connecticut  to  superintend  the  settle- 
ment of  Mattatuck  (that  is,  Waterbury)  ordered 
that  "for  benefit  of  Christian  duties  and  defense 
against  enemies  "  the  inhabitants  of  the  new  plan- 
tation "should  settle  near  together."  Accordingly, 
prior  to  the  year  1700,  all  the  inhabitants  lived  in 
the  town  centre  or  its  immediate  neighborhood. 
But  as  the  lands  at  the  centre  were  taken  up,  the 
new  settlers  had  to  find  room  in  the  remoter  parts 
of  the  town.  In  1725  or  1730  we  get  trace  of  set- 
tlers in  the  northern  part,  and  here  the  history  of 
Plymouth  as  a  distinct  community  begins. 

The  northern  and  north-western  section  of  the 
town,  embracing  what  is  now  Thomaston  and  a 
part  of  Watertown,  was  called  in  the  early  time 
Wooster  Swamp,  and  the  settlers  in  it  the  "  North- 
ern "  or  "  Up-river  inhabitants."  The  first  mention 
made  of  these  in  the  Waterbury  records  is  the  fol- 
lowing: 

December  14,  1730, — it  was  agreed  by  vote  that  at  Wooster 
Swamp,  according  to  their  families,  they  shall  have  their 
school  money  according  to  their  list,  which  families  are  Jona- 
than Scott,  Sr.,  Jonathan  Scott,'  Jr.,  Gershom  Scott,  David 
Scott,  Samuel  Thomas,  Ebenezer  Warner,  Ebenezer  Dickason, 
Dr.  John  Warner,  Geo.  Watton,  James  Williams,  Joseph  Nich- 
ols, Jonathan  Koley,  Abraham  Etter,  John  Sutliff,  Isaac  Cas- 
tle, Joseph  Hurlbut,  Henry  Cook. 

Most  of  these  belonged  in  the  western  part  of  the 
"Swamp,"  afterwards  called  Westbury,  now  Water- 


THE  CHURCH  IN  PLYMOUTH.  109 

town.  Of  the  settlers  in  the  northern  or  North- 
bury  part,  Henry  Cook  was  the  earliest,  coming 
with  his  family  about  1728;  and  John  Sutliff  fol- 
lowed him  a  year  or  two  later.  Others  joining 
these,  they  began  to  organize  as  a  distinct  commu- 
nity. 

In  all  the  early  New  England  towns  the  first 
movement  towards  distinct  organization  was  in 
the  direction  of  religious  privileges.  The  first  pub- 
lic body  organized  was  the  church;  the  first  public 
building  erected  was  the  meeting-house;  the  first 
public  officer  provided  for  was  the  minister.  As  an 
old  writer  says:  "In  the  first  settlement  of  New 
England,  when  the  people  judged  their  number 
competent  to  obtain  a  minister,  they  then  surely 
seated  themselves,  but  not  before,  it  being  as  un- 
natural for  a  right  New  England  man  to  live  with- 
out the  minister  as  for  a  smith  to  work  his  iron 
without  fire."  Accordingly,  no  sooner  had  the 
"northern"  inhabitants  become  numerous  enough 
to  do  something  for  themselves  than  they  began  to 
move  for  religious  provision  independent  of  the 
church  at  the  centre  of  the  town,  to  which  by  law 
they  were  required  to  pay  taxes  for  the  minister's 
support.  At  first,  in  1732,  they  joined  themselves 
with  the  "northwestern"  inhabitants,  in  the  en- 
deavor to  obtain  "winter  privileges,"  that  is,  the 
privilege  of  hiring  a  minister  to  preach  among 
them  during  the  winter  months,  with  exemption 
during  that  period  from  parish  rates  at  the  centre. 
The  first  movement  of  the  "  Up-river  "  people  to- 
ward a  distinct  organization  was  a  petition  to  the 
town  for  winter  privileges  in  the  fall  of  1734.  But 
the  town  "voted  they  would  do  nothing  in  the 


no        THE  MOTHER  AND   THE  DAUGHTERS. 

case."  Two  years  later  (September  29th,  1736),  fif- 
teen residents  in  the  northern  section — namely, 
Thomas  Blakeslee,  Henry  Cook,  Jonathan  Cook, 
John  Howe,  Jonathan  Foot,  John  Sutliff,  John 
Sutliff,  Jr.,  Samuel  Towner,  Samuel  Frost,  Barnabas 
Ford,  Ebenezer  Elwell,  Gideon  Allen,  Isaac  Castle, 
Daniel  Curtis  and  John  Humaston— united  in  the 
following  touching  appeal  to  the  town: 

Whair  as  it  is  well  known  to  you  all,  that  we,  whose  names 
are  hearunto  affixed,  have  our  abode  at  such  a  distance  from  ye 
fixed  place  of  publique  worship  in  this  town,  and  that  ye  cir- 
cumstances of  ye  way,  are  such  as  yt  is  with  difficulty  yt  we 
come  to  ye  house  of  God  at  any  time  of  ye  year,  and  especaly 
in  ye  winter  season  is  extreamly  difficult  and  sometimes  wholy 
imposable,  and  being  much  consarned  for  our  poor  children,  yt 
they  also  might  have  ye  opportunity  of  atending  ye  publick 
worship  of-  God  more  conveanantly,  and  nothing  douting  of 
your  readiness  to  shew  cindness  to  us  and  to  our  children,  we 
do  therefore  hearby  pray  and  ask  for  yor  willingness  consent 
and  approbation,  yt  all  those  who  live  within  Bounds  hearaf  ter 
mentioned,  may  at  our  cost  and  charg,  have  ye  preaching  of  ye 
word  of  life  among  ourselves  in  ye  three  winter  months  of 
desember  jenewary  and  febeuary,  and  be  freed  from  paing  min- 
isteriel  charg  with  ye  town  for  the  said  three  months,  (being 
willing  to  pay  our  proportion  and  ministerial  dues  for  ye  other 
nine  months  of  ye  year),  which  privilidg  to  be  enjoyed  from 
year  to  year,  and  euery  year  for  such  term  of  time  as  ye  hon- 
ourable general  assembly  in  their  wisdom  and  goodness  shall 
grant  and  determene,  whereby  you  will  much  oblige  your  Chris- 
tian brethren  and  neibors.* 

It  would  seem  that  such  an  appeal  must  have 
prevailed.  But  it  did  not.  The  original  petition, 
which  is  still  in  existence,  is  endorsed  as  follows: 


*This  and  one  or  two  other  documents  are  given  in  the  form  in  which  they  have 
come  down  to  us,  without  alteration  in  spelling,  punctuation,  etc.  These  may 
serve  as  a  sample  of  all.  To  place  orthographical  curiosities  before  our  readers  is 
not  our  main  purpose,  and  we  adopt  as  a  rule  the  orthography  of  to-day. — EDITOR. 


THE  CHURCH  IN  PLYMOUTH.  m 

"  The  within  petition  negatived  at  a  town  meeting 
in  Waterbury,  September  29th,  1736.  Attest,  JOHN 
SOUTHMAYD,  Town  Clerk."  Of  the  record  of  the 
town  meeting  at  which  this  appeal  was  rejected, 
only  a  fragment  remains.  From  this  we  learn  that 
the  "  subscribers  of  the  first  negatived  petition " 
asked  of  the  town  whether  they  would  grant  them 
the  privilege  of  hiring  a  minister  during  the  three 
winter  months  (with  exemption  from  ministerial 
charges  in  the  town  during  those  months)  "  for  the 
three  following  years,"  and  that  "  this  liberty  was 
voted  and  answered  in  the  affirmative."  In  April 
following,  an  indefinite  extension  of  this  privilege 
was  asked  for,  but  was  refused  by  the  town.  Not 
only  so,  the  former  privilege  was  in  practice 
revoked,  and  the  northern  inhabitants  were  still 
required  to  pay  ministerial  charges  at  the  centre. 

The  following  month,  despairing  of  further  favor 
from  the  town,  they  brought  their  complaint  and 
appeal  before  the  General  Assembly,  which  in  those 
days  was  supreme  in  matters  concerning  the  church 
as  well  as  in  those  relating  to  the  state.  The  memo- 
rialists describe  themselves  as  "  living  on  a  tract  of 
land  about  five  miles  square,  whereof  Barnabas 
Ford's  dwelling  house  is  the  centre."  This  tract  of 
land  "adjoineth  to  Litchfield  bounds  and  lieth 
northward  of  those  farmers" — that  is,  the  farmers  of 
Westbury — "  unto  whom  this  honorable  Assembly 
hath  granted  liberty  to  have  the  gospel  ministry 
among  them  in  the  winter  months,  with  exemption 
from  paying  rates  to  the  support  of  the  ministry  in 
the  town.  Our  habitations  are  eight  or  nine  miles 
from  the  meeting  house  in  the  town,  to  which 
parish  we  do  belong,  neither  are  we  convenient  to 


H2        THE  MOTHER  AND   THE  DAUGHTERS. 

the  above  farmers,  therefore  were  not  by  the  act  of 
Assembly  annexed  to  them."  The  memorial  pro- 
ceeds: 

And  forasmuch  as  we  could  not  attend  the  publick  worship 
in  s'd  town  therefore  we  applyed  our  selues  to  our  town  at 
theire  meeting  September  26th  1736,  and  they  kindely  granted 
us  the  libertie  to  haue  a  minister  among  our  selues  for  the 
three  winter  months,  and  to  continue  for  three  years  with 
exemption  from  ministeryall  charges  in  the  town  for  the 
s'd  term ;  upon  which  we  rested,  and  have  hired  and  sup- 
orted  a  minister.  But  to  our  greate  surprise,  the  said  town 
haue  forced  us  to  pay  taxes  to  the  suport  of  the  ministry 
in  the  town,  for  those  very  months  they  had  by  vote 
(upon  record)  freed  us,  and  yet  we  haue  maintained  our 
own  minister,  without  the  help  of  the  town.  Therefore 
our  humble  request  to  your  honours  is  that  you  would  in 
your  wisdom  consider  our  ciercomstances  and  grant  us  libertie 
to  suport  the  gospel  ministry  among  our  selues  upon  our  own 
charge,  for  so  many  months  in  each  yeare  as  we  shall  finde  our 
selues  able,  with  freedom  from  paying  taxes  to  the  suport  of 
the  ministry  in  the  town  dureing  such  time  and  times  as  we 
shall  have  a  minister  amongst  our  selues.  And  whereas  there 
are  seueral  other  persons  that  are  comeing  to  settle  with  us  in 
the  aboue  mentioned  Tract  of  Land,  we  therefore  pray  that 
such  as  may  settle  with  us  may  have  granted  to  them  the 
same  libertie  and  preuledge  we  ask  for  our  selues,  hopeing 
thereby  we  shall  more  easilie  suport  the  gospel  ministry 
amongst  us,  or  that  your  honours  would  grant  us  such  other 
relief  in  referance  to  the  premeses,  as  may  be  thought  con- 
venient. 

The  petition  was  rejected  in  both  houses,  but 
the  northern  inhabitants  made  preparations  for  a 
renewal  of  their  appeal.  Their  second  memorial, 
presented  in  October,  1737,  referring-  to  the  appli- 
cation to  the  town  meeting  of  September  2pth,  1736, 
for  winter  privileges  for  a  limited  period,  says: 

The  afores'd  Town  meeting  knowing  our  distressed  circum- 
stances, with  all  readiness  Granted  our  request,  only  the 


THE  CHURCH  IN  PLYMOUTH.  n3 

Libertie  was  to  continue  but  for  three  years  next  ensuing  the 
date  of  said  meeting.  Now  our  humble  Request  to  this 
Assembly  is  that  you  would  confirme  and  Ratify  to  us  the  vote 
of  s'd  Town,  and  make  adistion  theretwo  if  you  in  your  wisdom 
think  fit. 

This  time  their  application  was  partially  success- 
ful. The  Assembly  enacted  "that  during  said 
three  months  granted  by  the  town  of  Waterbury 
to  the  memorialists  in  the  three  years  then  next 
ensuing,  the  memorialists  shall  be  exempted  from 
paying  any  charges  to  the  support  of  the  ministry 
in  said  town  society,  provided  they  maintain  a 
gospel  minister  among  themselves";  but  the  sug- 
gestion that  the  Assembly  should  "  make  addition 
thereto," — that  is,  should  lengthen  the  three  years' 
period — was  not  adopted.  The  act  of  the  Assembly 
was,  however,  an  official  recognition  of  the  "north- 
ern inhabitants "  as  a  distinct  community,  and 
from  this  all  the  rest,  to  the  full  investment  of 
Plymouth  as  a  town,  naturally  follows. 

Encouraged  by  this  initial  success,  they  prepared 
to  move,  on  the  General  Assembly  at  its  next 
session  (May,  1738),  for  independent  privileges 
"  for  such  time  as  they  should  have  the  word  dis- 
pensed among  them,"  that  is,  the  whole  year  round, 
if  they  should  support  a  minister,  instead  of  the 
three  winter  months  only,  already  granted.  This 
third  memorial  enlarges  upon  the  difficulties  beset- 
ting a  regular  attendance  upon  public  worship  at 
the  centre  of  the  town,  and  humbly  requests 

That  in  your  great  goodness  and  tender  regard  for  us  in  our 
spiritual  and  most  valuable  interest,  you  would  consider  us, 
and  grant  us  an  exemption  from  paying  ministerial  charges 
with  the  town,  for  such  time  as  we  have  the  word  dispensed 
among  ourselves,  at  our  own  cost  and^charge. 


H4        THE  MOTHER  AND   THE  DAUGHTERS. 

The  application  failed,  but  defeat  did  not  dis- 
courage the  persistent  memorialists.  At  the 
October  session  they  applied  for  an  extension  of 
the  three  years'  period  by  an  addition  of  two  years, 
relating  at  the  same  time  more  fully  the  difficulties 
of  their  situation: 

Your  Honors  hath  in  your  wisdom  and  goodness  given  us 
liberty  to  hire  a  gospel  minister  among  ourselves  three  months 
in  a  year  for  the  space  of  three  years,  in  the  winter  season, 
with  exemption  from  ministerial  charges  in  said  town  during 
said  time,  which  will  be  out  in  February  next;  and  we  now  beg 
leave  to  lay  our  distressed  circumstances  before  your  honors 
once  more, — which  are  that  we  live  some  eight,  nine,  ten  and 
eleven  miles  from  the  public  worship  in  said  town,  and  must 
pass  a  difficult  river  nine  times,  and  go  through  seventeen 
pairs  of  bars  and  gates,  some  of  us,  and  the  rest  of  the  way 
being  generally  very  bad;  and  unless  we  have  the  gospel 
preached  among  ourselves,  there  are  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
nine  persons  that  must  be  the  greatest  part  of  the  year  destitute 
thereof;  and  we  pray  that  your  Honors  would  grant  us  this 
privilege;  further,  that  we  have  liberty  to  hire  a  gospel  min- 
ister among  ourselves  for  the  space  of  two  years  next  after  the 
aforesaid  term  of  time. 

This  modest  appeal  was  not  in  vain. "  It  was 
resolved  by  the  Assembly  "that  the  memorialists 
shall  and  hereby  have  granted  unto  them  the 
liberty  of  hiring  the  gospel  preached  among  them 
for  the  space  of  two  years,  to  commence  and  be 
computed  from  February  next,  with  exemption 
from  paying  ministerial  charges  to  said  town  for 
such  time  only  as  they  hire  the  gospel  preached 
among  them." 

The  case  was  now  evidently  going  against  the 
old  society  and  in  favor  of  the  new  community. 
The  victory  secured  in  1738  was  promptly  followed 
up.  The  northern  inhabitants,  at  a  town  meeting 


THE  CHURCH  IN  PLYMOUTH.  115 

held  on  the  iyth  of  September,  1739,  "prayed  the 
old  society  to  give  them  certain  bounds,"  and 
secured  a  vote  that  they,  the  said  old  society,  would 
not  oppose  them  in  praying  the  General  Assembly 
"for  a  committee  to  state  the  bounds  of  their 
society  and  view  their  circumstances."  Armed 
with  this  vote,  they  applied  to  the  Assembly  to  be 
"made  a  society,  with  the  privileges  of  a  society, 
that  they  may  settle  a  gospel  minister  among 
them,"  and  with  a  view  to  this  end  asked  the 
Assembly  to  "  appoint  a  committee,  and  send  them 
to  view  their  circumstances  and  state  the  line 
between  said  old  society  and  said  inhabitants,  and 
to  make  return  to  this  board  with  their  doings." 
The  petition  was  granted,  and  a  committee  was 
appointed,  consisting  of  Captain  Thomas  Miles, 
Mr.  Stephen  Hotchkiss  and  Captain  Joseph  Thom- 
son, all  of  Wallingford,  who,  on  the  25th  of 
October,  reported  to  the  Assembly  that  the  "  north- 
erly inhabitants "  were  "  well  able  to  bear  the 
charges  of  a  distinct  society,"  and  that  the  lands 
contained  within  the  indicated  bounds  constituted 
"  a  good  sufficiency  for  a  society."  Whereupon  the 
following  action  was  taken: 

Resolved  by  this  Assembly  that  the  said  memorialists,  within 
the  limits  above  specified  and  described,  be  and  become  a 
separate  and  distinct  society,  or  parish,  and  that  they  shall 
have  and  be  invested  with  all  the  powers  and  privileges  where- 
with other  parishes  within  this  colony  are  endowed,  and  shall 
be  known  and  called  by  the  Parish  of  Northbury. 

And  so,  after  four  applications  to  the  town,  and 
five  to  the  General  Assembly,  the  new  community 
at  last  gained  its  end,  and  Northbury  went  on  the 
roll  of  the  ecclesiastical  societies  of  Connecticut. 


n6        THE  MOTHER  AND   THE  DAUGHTERS. 

The  boundaries  adopted  by  the  Assembly's  com- 
mittee were  as  follows: 

Beginning  at  the  north-west  corner  of  the  First  society  in 
said  Waterbury,  and  the  north-easterly  corner  of  Westbury 
society  at  two  white  oak  trees,  known  by  the  name  of  Two 
Brothers;  then  running  south-easterly  by  the  West  Branch 
until  it  comes  into  the  river;  then  by  the  river  until  it  comes 
where  Spruce  Brook  emptieth  itself  into  the  river,  a  little 
below  Upson's  Island;  then  from  the  mouth  of  said  brook  a 
straight  line  to  the  falls  of  Hancock's  Brook,  and  from  thence 
a  straight  line  to  the  south  side  of  Mr.  Noyes'  farm,  lying 
partly  on  a  hill  by  the  name  of  Grassy  Hill;  and  from  thence  a 
due  east  line  to  Farmington  line;  then  north  by  said  Farm- 
in  gton  line  to  Harwinton  bounds;  then  by  Harwinton  bounds 
and  Litchfield  bounds  to  the  bounds  first  mentioned ;  bounding 
south  on  said  "Waterbury,  First  society;  east  on  Farmington 
bounds;  north,  part  on  Harwinton  and  part  on  Litchfield 
bounds;  and  west  on  said  Westbury  society. 

The  society  was  constituted,  but  not  yet  organ- 
ized. The  General  Assembly  had  built  the  ship, 
but  left  it  on  the  stocks;  those  who  were  to  sail  in 
it  must  launch  it.  This  they  proceeded  to  do.  The 
law  provided  that  upon  application  of  any  three 
inhabitants  of  a  society  to  any  justice  of  the  peace, 
he  must  warn  a  meeting  of  that  society.  Accord- 
ingly three  of  the  inhabitants  of  Northbury  made 
application  to  one  of  the  justices  of  Waterbury, 
who  issued  his  warning  to  those  living  within  the 
parish  bounds  in  the  following  form: 

Whareas  the  law  prouides  that  when  parishes,  or  any  three 
of  ye  inhabitance  of  ye  sosiaty,  appliing  to  any  assistant  or 
justis  of  ye  peace,  shall  by  a  waront  by  him  issued  out,  warn 
all  ye  inhabitance  within  ye  bounds  of  ye  sosiaty,  etc. 

these  are  therefore  in  his  maiesty's  name  to  warn  each  and 
every  parson  within  ye  bounds  of  Waterbury,  known  by  ye 
name  of  North  Bary,  ye  third  sosiaty  in  s'd  Waterbary,  to 


THE  CHURCH  IN  PL  YMO  UTH.  1 1 7 

atend  a  sosiaty  meating,  and  forme  themselves,  and  chuse  a 
moderater  and  sosiaty  dark  and  other  nesasary  bisness  as  they 
shall  have  need  of,  to  apear  upon  ye  20  day  of  this  instant 
Nouember,  at  eight  of  ye  clock  in  ye  morning  at  ye  house  they 
meat  in. 

dated  in  Waterbary,  this  10  day  of  Nouem.  ano  domini,  1739. 
Signed  per  THOMAS  CLARK,  Justis  Peace. 

John  Sutlif,  Ebenezer  Richason,  Barnabas  Ford.  Inhab- 
itance  of  the  3d  Sosiaty. 

In  response  to  this  warning,  the  inhabitants  met 
on  the  day  designated,  organized  the  society  and 
transacted  its  first  business,  as  appears  by  the  fol- 
lowing record  of  the  meeting: 

the  meating  being  warned  as  ye  law  derects,  Mr.  John  Sutlif 
was  chosen  moderator,  and  Barnabas  Ford  was  chosen  clark 
for  the  sosiaty  of  North  bury. 

at  ye  sam  meating,  Moses  Blasle,  [Blakeslee],  John  Sutlif, 
and  ebenezer  richason  was  chosen  commitee  for  ye  year  insuing. 

It  appears  further  from  the  record  that  "att  ye 
same  meating  we  maid  choise  of  Mr.  Samuel  todd 
to  be  our  minister  by  a  major  vote."  In  March  fol- 
lowing a  committee  was  appointed  "to  carry  the 
society's  call  to  Mr.  Todd,  in  order  to  receive  his 
answer";  which  answer  he  returned  as  follows: 

NORTHBURY,  March  3,  1739-40. 

To  Mr.  Jeremiah  Peck,  Moses  Blakeslee,  Daniel  Curtiss, 
committee: 

Having  received  your  call  and  proposals  in  behalf  of  the 
society  to  settle  with  you  in  the  work  of  the  ministry,  and 
having  weighed  and  considered  them,  I  declare  myself  willing 
upon  them  to  settle  with  them  in  the  work  of  the  ministry, 
provided  they  proceed  to  a  regular  ordination  upon  or  before 
the  eighth  day  of  May  next;  and  I  pray  God  you  may  be  a 
blessing  to  me  and  I  to  you.  SAMUEL  TODD. 

The  condition  herein  expressed  the  society  accep- 
ted, voting  "to  proceed  in  the  ordination  of  Mr. 


n$        THE  MOTHER  AND   THE  DAUGHTERS. 

Samuel  Todd  upon  the  seventh  day  of  May  next 
ensuing  the  date  hereof";  and  Jeremiah  Peck, 
Daniel  Curtiss,  John  Warner,  Moses  Blakeslee  and 
Thomas  Blakeslee,  were  chosen  a  committee  to 
"  prosecute  the  design  in  order  to  an  ordination." 

In  the  meantime,  a  building  for  public  uses  had 
been  erected  by  the  inhabitants  of  Northbury  on 
land  given  them  for  the  purpose  by  the  Rev.  John 
Southmayd,  their  aged  pastor.  He  was  dismissed 
from  his  pastoral  charge,  in  Waterbury,  the  year 
their  society  was  organized,  but  of  course  retained 
his  interest  in  these  sheep  of  his,  on  the  edge  of 
the  wilderness.  Mr.  Southmayd  had  bought  the 
land  from  John  How,  and  now  conveyed  it 

To  the  inhabitants  living  within  two  miles  and  a  half  of 
Ford's  dwelling  house,  and  so  many  as  shall  be  annexed  to 
them,  when  they  shall  be  set  off  for  a  society, — to  them  and 
their  heirs  and  successors  forever,  one  acre  of  land  near  said 
Ford's  dwelling  house  in  Waterbury,  on  which  the  said  inhab- 
itants have  already  set  up  a  house  under  the  denomination  of 
a  school  house.* 

In  the  building  designated  as  the  "school 
house,"  which  stood  on  a  mound,  since  levelled, 
near  the  north-west  corner  of  the  Thomaston  park, 
the  Northbury  church  was  organized,  and  Mr. 
Samuel  Todd  was  ordained  first  pastor,  May  yth, 

*  A  part  of  the  original  deed  is  still  in  existence.  It  contains  the  signatures  of 
Mr.  Southmayd  and  the  witnesses,  is  labelled  on  the  back,  "  The  north  inhab- 
itants, deed  of  John  Southmayd.  received  to  record  December  i3th,  1738,  entered 
in  Waterbury  records,  sth  book,  p.  15,  per  John  Southmayd,  recorder,"  and  is 
endorsed  as  follows:  "Waterbury,  in  Connecticut,  October  6,  1738,  then  per- 
sonally appeared  John  Southmayd,  the  signer  and  sealer  of  the  above  written 
instrument,  and  ackowledged  the  same  to  be  his  free  act  and  deed  before  me. 
THOMAS  CLARK,  justice  of  peace."  This  deed  constitutes  the  title  to  the  open 
ground,  or  "  Park,"  in  the  centre  of  the  village  of  Thomaston.  The  house 
spoken  of  as  Barnabas  Ford's  stood  near  where  the  academy  in  Thomaston  now 
stands.  — E.  B.  H. 


THE  CHURCH  IN  PLYMOUTH.  119 

1740.  The  record  of  the  ordination,  as  entered  in 
the  minutes  of  the  New  Haven  East  Association,* 
is  as  follows: 

At  a  council  of  elders  and  messengers,  regularly  convened 
at  Northbury,  the  third  society  of  Waterbury,  May  yth,  1740, 
for  the  ordination  of  Mr.  Samuel  Todd  to  the  work  of  the 
gospel  ministry  there: 

Elders  present:  The  Rev.  Messrs.  Samuel  Whittlesey,  Isaac 
Stiles,  Samuel  Hall,  Mark  Leavenworth. 

Messengers  from  the  churches:  Mr.  Jacob  Johnson,  Wal- 
lingford,  Mr.  John  Gaylord,  Cheshire,  Deacon  Todd,  North 
Haven,  Timothy  Hopkins,  Esq.,  Waterbury,  Deacon  John 
Warner,  Westbury. 

At  which  council  Mr.  Whittlesey  was  chosen  moderator; 
Mr.  Leavenworth  scribe. 

Then  Mr.  Todd  was  examined  and  approved. 

Then  voted,  that  Mr.  Hall  should  preach,  Mr.  Whittlesey 
introduce  the  affair  by  taking  a  vote  of  the  church,  etc.,  and 
also  should  make  the  prayer  before  the  charge,  and  give  the 
charge;  that  Mr.  Stiles  should  make  the  prayer  after  the 
charge,  and  Mr.  Leavenworth  give  the  right  hand  of  fellow- 
ship. 

According  to  which  Mr.  Todd  was  ordained,  with  imposition 
of  the  hands  of  the  presbytery. 

Test,  MARK  LEAVENWORTH,  Scribe. 

The  society  and  the  church  were  now  fully 
organized,  and  provided  with  a  "  settled  minister;" 
but  as  yet  they  had  no  meeting  house.  In  connec- 
tion with  the  establishment  of  a  meeting  house 
troubles  arose  which  distracted  the  society  for 
years,  and  came  near  ruining  it.  As  has  been  said, 
the  earliest  settlers  located  on  the  west  side  of  the 
Naugatuck  river,  in  what  is  now  the  village  of 
Thomaston.  There  the  first  public  ground  was 
laid  out  and  the  first  public  building  erected,  with 

*  Now  in  the  library  of  Yale  University. 


120        THE  MOTHER  AND    THE  DAUGHTERS. 

the  expectation,  no  doubt,  that  when  the  society 
came  to  be  organized,  it  would  adopt  these  as  its 
meeting  house  green  and  meeting  house.  But  the 
course  of  events  disappointed  this  expectation. 
The -settlers  that  came  in  afterward  took  up  their 
farms  on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  and  soon  out- 
numbered the  west-side  settlers.  Some  of  them 
living  as  far  east  as  Town  Hill,  they  naturally  did 
not  fancy  going,  all  their  lives,  over  to  the  west 
side  to  meeting,  and  it  was  this  feeling  that  began 
the  division  between  east  side  and  west  side  which 
ultimated,  a  century  and  a  quarter  later,  in  the  par- 
tition of  the  town. 

The  public  building  on  the  west  side  of  the 
river,  though  used  at  first  for  public  worship,  was 
not  the  meeting  house  of  the  society,  having  been 
built  before  the  society  was  organized,  and  being 
owned  by  a  company  of  private  persons.  Aside 
from  the  objection  to  its  location  on  the  part  of 
those  on  the  east  side,  the  tenure  of  it  was  an  inse- 
cure one,being  subject  to  the  will  of  a  majority  of  the 
owners,  independent  of  the  control  of  the  society. 
The  question  of  building  a  meeting  house  was, 
therefore,  early  agitated.  The  first  action  of  the 
society  was  taken  at  a  meeting  held  October  6th, 
1740,  when  it  was  vo.ted  to  apply  to  the  General 
Assembly  "  for  a  committee  to  stake  a  place  to  set 
a  meeting  house."  The  vote  seems  to  have  opera- 
ted like  a  charge  of  dynamite.  With  the  date  of 
October  6th,  the  record  of  the  society  in  the  hand- 
writing of  Barnabas  Ford  abruptly  closes.  The 
society  had  gone  to  pieces,  shattered  (like  so  many 
other  ecclesiastical  societies)  on  Meeting-house 
Rock.  But  although  thus  for  the  time  dissolved,  it 


THE  CHURCH  IN  PLYMOUTH.  121 

was  not  to  remain  in  a  state  of  dissolution.  The  Gen- 
eral Assembly  had  power  to  reconstruct  it,  and  to 
the  General  Assembly  appeal  was  made,  at  the 
May  session,  1741,  by  Moses  Blakeslee,  Thomas 
Blakeslee  and  John  Bronson.  A  remonstrance 
against  being  involved  in  additional  expense 
through  the  building  of  a  meeting  house  had  in 
the  meantime  been  drawn  up,  but  had  apparently 
not  been  presented  to  the  Assembly.  The  appeal 
just  referred  to  was  duly  presented,  May  soth,  set- 
ting forth  that  the  circumstances  of  the  parish 
were  "truly  distressing,"  and  that  it  was  "alto- 
gether unable  to  extricate  itself  out  of  the  dif- 
ficulties under  which  it  was  laboring,"  and  pray- 
ing "  that  your  honours  would  take  the  same  into 
your  wise  consideration  and  in  your  great  wisdom 
and  goodness  find  out  some  redress  for  our  great 
grievances  although  we  are  unable  so  much  as  to 
hint  to  your  honours  in  what  way  and  manner." 
The  response  was  as  follows: 

This  Assembly  being  informed  of  the  broken  and  confused 
circumstances  that  the  parish  of  Northbury  in  Waterbury  are 
at  present  under,  in  all  their  public  affairs,  not  having  any  reg- 
ular society  meeting  or  officer,  and  that  the  said  society  may 
not  be  further  involved  in  difficulties  and  ruined,  it  is  resolved 
by  this  Assembly  that  Colonel  Benjamin  Hall  (of  Wallingford) 
and  Captain  John  Riggs  (of  Derby)  be  a  committee  to  repair 
to  said  society  with  full  power  to  warn  said  society  to  meet 
together,  and  to  lead  and  conduct  said  society  in  the  choice  of 
proper  officers  for  the  same,  and  to  advise  and  direct  them 
where  they  shall  meet  on  the  Sabbath  for  public  worship  in 
said  society  and  for  what  term  of  time;  and  the  said  society 
and  all  the  inhabitants  thereof  are  hereby  warned  to  conform 
themselves  to  the  advice  and  direction  of  said  committee  in 
every  respect  on  pain  of  incurring  the  great  displeasure  of  this 
Assembly.  And  the  said  committee  are  directed  to  view  the 
6 


122        THE  MOTHER  AND   THE  DAUGHTERS. 

circumstances  of  the  said  society,  and  hear  the  parties  con- 
cerned in  the  premises  and  give  them  their  opinion  what  is 
best  to  be  done  with  respect  to  getting  a  place  affixed  for  them 
to  build  a  meeting  house  upon,  and  at  what  time,  and  to  make 
report  of  their  opinion  on  the  whole  of  the  premises  to  this 
Assembly  in  October  next. 

The  visit  of  the  committee  was  made  on  the  loth  of 
June,  and  at  the  next  session  (October,  1741)  they 
reported  as  follows: 

We  led  them  to  the  choice  of  a  clerk,  whom  we  swore,  and 
the  officers  needful  for  the  same,  and  we  did  also  advise  and 
direct  them  to  meet  on  the  Sabbath  for  ten  months  in  the  year 
at  the  house  called  the  school  house,  and  the  other  two  months 
at  the  dwelling  house  of  Joseph  Clark  (namely  January  and 
February),  and  we  also  viewed  their  circumstances  and  advised 
them  unanimously  to  make  their  application  to  the  present 
Assembly  for  a  committee  to  affix  a  place  for  them  to  build  a 
meeting  house  upon,  and  that  they  pray  the  said  Assembly  to 
direct  the  said  parishioners  not  to  build  a  meeting  house  at  the 
said  place  when  so  affixt  at  the  public  charge  of  the  said  parish 
for  such  term  of  time  as  the  Assembly  should  think  fit. 

The  account  of  what  had  taken  place,  as  given  by 
the  new  clerk  of  the  society,  is  as  follows: 

Northbury,  in  Waterbury,  at  a  society  meeting  on  June  loth, 
1741;  warned  by  a  citation  from  the  worshipful  John  Riggs 
and  Benjamin  Hall,  a  committee  appointed  and  sent  by  the 
General  Assembly  last  year  to  advise,  direct  and  lead  us  in 
our  society  affairs.  At  the  same  meeting  Joseph  Clark  was 
chosen  clerk  of  the  society  of  Northbury  and  sworn.  Deacon 
Moses  Blakeslee,  Lieutenant  John  Bronson  and  Sergeant  John 
Warner  were  chosen  our  prudential  committee;  Ensign  Daniel 
Curtiss  was  chosen  collector  for  the  minister  rate  for  the 
present  year. 

The  society  being  now  in  the  hands  of  the  east- 
side  inhabitants,  they  proceeded  to  apply  for  a  new 
committee  to  locate  the  meeting  house.  Those  on 
the  west  side  of  the  river  drew  up  an  earnest  pro- 


THE  CHURCH  IN  PLYMOUTH.  123 

test  against  being  burdened  with  "  further  charges 
at  present,"  but  their  remonstrance  was  of  no  avail. 
A  committee  was  appointed,  consisting  of  Captain 
John  Riggs  and  Captain  John  Fowler,  to  visit  the 
parish  and  fix  the  place  of  the  meeting  house;  the 
visit  was  made  on  the  24th  of  November,  1741,  and 
the  place  of  the  meeting  house  was  fixed  as  follows: 

On  the  westward  side  of  a  certain  swamp  called  the  One 
Pine  swamp,  about  thirty  rods  southward  of  the  highway  that 
runs  from  the  river  eastward  by  Isaac  Castle's  up  the  hill  to 
William  Luttenton's  and  Joseph  Clark's  dwelling  houses,  and 
near  or  about  twenty  rods  west  from  said  swamp,  where  we 
caused  a  stake  to  be  set  up  and  cast  stones  about  it,  which  said 
stake  is  to  be  included  within  the  sills  of  the  meeting  house. 

The  action  thus  taken  seems  to  have  decided  the 
owners  of  the  public  building  on  the  west  side  not 
to  allow  its  use  any  longer  to  the  society  as  a  place 
for  public  worship.  At  the  annual  meeting  in 
December,  1742,  the  society  agreed  by  a  full  vote 
that  they  would  "  meet  for  the  public  worship  of 
God  at  places  as  followeth  ": 

From  this  time  until  the  first  day  of  March  next  ensuing 
at  the  dwelling  house  of  Joseph  Clark;  and  from  that  time 
until  the  first  day  of  May  next  ensuing  at  the  dwelling  house 
of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Todd;  and  from  that  time  unto  the  first  day  of 
July  next  ensuing  at  the  dwelling  house  of  Joseph  Clark, 
senior;  and  from  that  time  unto  the  first  day  of  September 
next  ensuing  at  the  dwelling  house  of  Joseph  Clark,  junior; 
and  from  that  time  until  our  annual  meeting  in  December  next 
ensuing  at  the  dwelling  house  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Todd. 

At  a  meeting  held  a  month  later,  they  adjourned  to 
meet  "at  the  dwelling  house  of  Joseph  Clark"; 
from  which  it  may  be  inferred  that  the  proprietors 
had  excluded  the  society  from  the  use  of  their 
building  not  only  for  public  worship,  but  also  for 


i24        TSE  MOTHER  AND   THE  DAUGHTERS. 

society  meetings.  At  the  next  annual  meeting  a 
plan  for  public  worship  at  private  houses  was 
again  agreed  upon.  But  this  homeless  way  of 
living  did  not  satisfy  them,  and,  slowly  recovering 
from  the  shock  of  dismemberment,  they  voted  in 
December,  1744,  to  "build  a  meeting  house  at  the 
stake,"  and  in  September  following  asked  the  Gen- 
eral Court  if  they  might  change  the  location  to  "  a 
place  called  the  Middle  stake,  or  in  other  words,  a 
bush  marked,  which  the  Court's  committee  marked 
to  be  a  place  to  build  a  meeting  house  at,  for  pub- 
lic worship." 

At  this  same  meeting  (September,  1745)  it  was 
voted  to  ask  the  General' Assembly  to  grant  a  tax 
upon  the  land  lying  in  the  bounds  of  Northbury,  at 
the  rate  of  sixpence  (old  tenor)  per  acre,  for  four 
years, — "  only  the  lands  belonging  to  the  inhabi- 
tants of  said  place  that  have  professed  to  the 
Church  of  England  being  exempted."  The  crisis 
which  had  for  some  time  been  impending  had 
arrived.  "  Openly,  in  the  meeting,  before  the  vote 
for  taxing  was  passed,  Barnabas  Ford,  Thomas 
Blakeslee  and  David  Blakeslee  declared  their  dis- 
sent from  their  land  being  taxed  for  the  building 
a  meeting  house  for  the  dissenters."  A  secession 
to  the  Church  of  England  has  taken  place,  and  the 
little  band  of  seceders,  with  a  refreshing  coolness, 
speak  already  of  the  main  body  of  the  society  as 
"the  dissenters"!  Mr.  John  Warner,  when  he 
appears  before  the  General  Assembly,  speaks  of 
"about  one-third  part"  of  the  society  as  having 
declared  for  the  Church  of  England,  "  which  leaves 
the  rest  unable  to  support  the  gospel  and  build  a 
meeting  house,"  and  adds: 


THE  CHURCH  IN  PLYMOUTH. 


125 


We  are  of  opinion  that  the  reason  why  the  place  was  affixed 
so  far  west  was  to  accommodate  the  western  inhabitants, 
which  at  that  time  lived  thickest  on  the  west  side  of  said 
parish;  and  they  having  generally  declared  for  the  Church  of 
England  on  said  west  side,  we  are  of  opinion  that  at  the  Black 
Oak  bush  marked  by  said  committee,  called  the  Middle  stake, 
which  stands  by  the  path  that  goes  from  Deacon  Blakeslee's 
to  Isaac  Castle's  dwelling  house,  about  twenty  rods  eastward 
from  the  brook  that  runs  from  the  north  end  of  the  hill  called 
the  One  Pine  toward  the  river,  which  said  place  your  memo- 
rialists are  unanimously  agreed  in,  is  the  place  for  them  to 
build  a  meeting  house  upon;  and  we  therefore  pray  your 
Honors  to  set  aside  the  first  mentioned  place  and  establish 
the  last  above  described  place  for  your  memorialists  to  build  a 
meeting  house  upon,  which  we  are  desirous  of,  or  in  some 
other  way  grant  relief  to  your  memorialists,  in  that  and  in  the 
foregoing  part  of  this  memorial. 

The  "  middle  stake "  here  spoken  of  was  on  the 
south  side  of  the  "  green,"  at  the  centre  of  the  town 
of  Plymouth,  on  the  highway  opposite  the  present 
town  building.  This  was  established  by  vote  of 
the  General  Assembly  as  the  place  at  which  to 
build,  and  there  the  first  meeting  house  was  built. 
The  Assembly  also  enacted: 

That  all  the  unimproved  lands  of  said  parish,  exclusive  of 
the  lands  belonging  to  such  persons  in  said  parish  as  have  pro 
fessed  for  the  Church  of  England,  shall  be  and  hereby  is  taxed 
at  the  rate  of  sixpence  (old  tenor  currency)  yearly  for  the  space 
of  four  years  next  coming,  to  be  paid  by  the  owners  of  such 
lands  and  to  be  improved  for  the  building  of  said  meeting 
house  and  for  the  support  of  their  minister. 

Against  this  tax  the  owners  of  the  land  rebelled, 
and  the  Assembly  was  called  upon  to  arm  the  col- 
lector of  the  society,  Caleb  Humaston,  with  the 
authority  of  the  state;  but  so  difficult,  even  then, 
did  he  find  this  task  that  at  a  subsequent  session  of 
the  Assembly  he  presented  a  petition  "  praying  for 


126        TEE  MOTHER  AND  THE  DAUGHTERS. 

obtainment  of  distress  "  (authority  to  seize  and  sell 
the  property),  and  for  the  appointment  of  some  one 
to  help  him, — "  it  being  very  troublesome  and  diffi- 
cult," he  adds,  "  for  one  alone  to  do  it." 

The  place  of  the  meeting  house  having  been 
fixed,  and  a  tax  laid,  the  society  at  the  annual 
meeting  of  December,  1745,  at  a  session  lasting 
"  till  nine  of  the  clock  at  night "  voted  to  build  a 
"  meeting  house  forty-five  feet  long,  thirty-five  feet 
wide,  and  twenty  feet  between  joints;"  they 
selected  a  building  committee,  decided  that  the 
tax  should  be  one  shilling,  old  tenor,  on  the  pound, 
and  appointed  Deacon  Moses  Blakeslee  to  secure 
the  necessary  land  for  the  building  and  for  the 
"  green  "  which  should  surround  it.  This  matter 
was  so  important  that  a  committee  was  appointed 
by  the  town  of  Waterbury,  consisting  of  Captain 
Timothy  Hopkins,  Captain  Stephen  Upson,  Ser- 
geant Thomas  Porter,  Captain  Samuel  Hickox  and 
Captain  William  Judd,  "  to  set  out  a  place  of  parade 
for  the  inhabitants  of  the  parish  of  Northbury 
within  said  town."  These  dignitaries  repaired  to 
the  place,  and  marked  out  the  grounds  as  follows: 

Eight  rods  south  from  the  stake  appointed  by  the  Court  for 
the  meetinghouse  for  said  parish,  and  eighteen  rods  north  from 
said  stake,  and  sixteen  rods  west  at  each  end  from  the  east  line 
of  John  Brinsmead's  farm  in  said  parish,  and  lies  twenty-six 
rods  in  length  and  sixteen  rods  wide,  and  is  as  we  judge  conven- 
ient for  a  green,  a  place  of  parade  and  burying  place  if  need 
be,  as  laid  out  by  us. 

The  land  thus  laid  out,  measuring  two  acres  and 
six-tenths,  was  owned  by  John  Brinsmead  of  Mil- 
ford,  and  was  purchased  of  him  by  the  town.  An 
additional  piece — four-tenths  of  an  acre — was 
bought  by  individuals,  and  Mr.  Brinsmead  added 


THE  CHURCH  IN  PLYMOUTH. 


127 


an  acre  as  a  gift  to  the  society,  making  the  green 
four  acres  in  all.  It  was  deeded  to  Caleb  Humaston 
as  agent  for  the  purchasers,  and  by  him  to  the 
Northbury  society.  An  additional  acre  north  of 
the  green,  purchased  by  Mr.  Humaston  for  himself, 
was  afterwards  purchased  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Storrs, 
the  second  minister  of  the  parish,  and  is  the  land 
upon  which  the  residence  of  Mr.  W.  W.  Bull  and 
the  present  parsonage  stand. 

The  building  of  its  first  meeting  house  was  an 
arduous  and  protracted  task  for  a  society  enfeebled 
by  the  secession  of  its  heaviest  property  holders 
and  still  further  encumbered  by  dissensions  among 
those  who  remained.  The  means  at  their  command 
were  so  limited,  and  the  labor  of  establishing  their 
homes  in  the  wilderness  was  so  exacting,  that  the 
period  of  a  generation  had  nearly  passed  before 
the  house  of  worship  which  the  society  in  the  first 
year  of  its  existence  had  resolved  to  build,  was 
completed.  The  first  movement  toward  building 
was  in  October,  1740;  the  first  decisive  action  in 
December,  1745.  In  September,  1747,  the  frame 
was  up,  and  at  a  meeting  held  that  month  permis- 
sion was  given  "  to  any  of  the  inhabitants  to  build 
a  Sabbath-day  house  for  conveniency,  provided  he 
sets  it  on  the  green  on  which  the  meeting  house 
stands,"  and  it  was  voted  to  "clear  the  meeting 
house  green  by  cutting  brush  and  carting  it  away." 
In  December,  1750,  Elnathan  Bronson  was  ap- 
pointed to  sweep  the  house — an  indication  that  it 
was  in  use  for  public  worship.  But  it  was  not 
finished  at  that  date,  nor  for  several  years  after- 
ward. .  In  1761  it  was  voted  "to  lay  the  floor  in  the 
galleries;"  in  1763  a  committee  was  appointed  "to 


I28        THE  MOTHER  AND   THE  DAUGHTERS. 

carry  on  the  work  of  the  meeting  house,"  and  in 
December,  1768 — twenty-eight  years  after  the  first 
vote  to  build — a  rate  was  laid  "to  defray  the 
charge  of  finishing."  But  at  length  the  society 
was  fully  organized,  and  equipped  with  meeting 
house  and  green  and  church  and  minister,  having 
through  much  tribulation  entered  into  its  king- 
dom. 

Meanwhile — in  1764 — the  first  pastor,  the  Rev. 
Samuel  Todd,  had  been  dismissed,  after  a  troubled 
pastorate  of  twenty-four  years,  and  the  Rev.  Andrew 
Storrs,  in  1765,  had  been  installed  as  his  successor. 
Of  Mr.  Todd  it  is  to  be  said  that  he  was  the  "  apos- 
tle "  of  Plymouth.  To  no  man  in  its  history  has 
the  community  been  more  largely  indebted.  He 
was  the  pilot  under  whose  guidance  it  weathered 
the  storm.  Coming  in  his  young  manhood  into  the 
wilderness,  bringing  his  young  wife  with  him  on 
horseback,  when  bridle  paths  were  the  only  roads; 
the  society  that  had  called  him  wrecked  at  the  outset 
of  its  history;  his  parishioners  divided  and  alien- 
ated; his  church  for  years  destitute  of  a  home  and 
wandering  like  a  wayfarer  from  house  to  house; 
his  support  inadequate;  his  salary,  which  had  been 
small  from  the  first,  diminished  by  the  deprecia- 
tion of  the  currency  (the  "  sink  of  money,"  as  the 
records  have  it)  and  because  of  the  straitened  cir- 
cumstances of  his  people  difficult  to  secure;  chang- 
ing his  home  repeatedly  with  the  changing  for- 
tunes of  the  parish;  struggling  with  discourage- 
ment and  in  the  later  years  of  his  ministry  with 
broken  health, — this  good  man  labored  on  with 
patience  and  faithfulness  and  a  spirit  unembittered 
by  trouble,  his  chief  solicitude  being  not  for  him- 


THE  CHURCH  IN  PLYMOUTH.  129 

self  but  for  the  parish  in  its  weakness.  At  length, 
on  the  i2th  of  February,  1756,  after  sixteen  years 
of  labor  and  trial,  he  opened  his  heart  to  the 
society  in  a  communication  referring  to  the  sub- 
ject of  his  pecuniary  support,  which  he  spoke  of  as 
"greatly  threatening  their  ruin;"  "and  yet,"  he 
added,  "  I  can  truly  say  I  am  free  to  serve  you  in 
the  work  of  the  ministry  so  long  as  there  is  a  hope- 
ful prospect  of  doing  service  to  your  souls."  What 
he  proposed  as  a  means  of  relief  was: 

A  public  contribution  once  in  two  months,  to  be  gathered  by 
the  deacons  at  the  close  of  the  evening  worship;  what  any 
shall  see  it  their  duty  to  hand  in  at  other  times,  it  shall  be 
acceptable;  and  if  the  society  please,  you  may  make  a  grant 
of  the  ministry  money  to  me;  record  may  be  made  thereof,  and 
I  will  serve  you  by  the  grace  of  God  as  long  as  God  in  his 
providence  shall  continue  me  in  the  work  of  the  ministry 
among  you. 

The  proposal  was  accepted,  and  they  struggled 
on  together  for  a  few  years  longer.  But  the  case 
was  hopeless.  The  faithful  minister  had  done  his 
work,  and  his  release  from  the  pastoral  bond  was 
near.  Application  for  advice  was  made  to  the  New 
Haven  Association  of  ministers,  and  a  committee, 
consisting  of  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Daniel  Humphrey, 
John  Trumbull,  Benjamin  Woodbridge  and  Mark 
Leavenworth,  recommended  that  a  council  of  the 
"  consociation  '  be  convened  to  settle  their  affairs 
or  to  dismiss  the  pastor.  A  council  was  called,  and 
Mr.  Todd  was  dismissed  in  August,  1764,  after  a 
pastorate  of  a  little  more  than  twenty-four  years, — 
a  pastorate  which  was  not  a  failure  but  a  success, 
unsurpassed  indeed  by  any  that  followed  it.  Mr. 
Todd  did  good  pioneer  work,  making  things  easier 
for  his  successors,  and  the  record  of  the  parish  for 


130 


THE  MOTHER  AND   THE  DAUGHTERS. 


a  century  and  a  half  is  his  monument.  He  was, 
with  Mark  Leavenworth  of  Waterbury  and  Joseph 
Bellamy  of  Bethlehem  (young  men  together,  and 
settled  at  nearly  the  same  time),  a  leader  of  the 
advanced  religious  thought  of  the  age,  and,  like 
leaders  in  every  age,  he  endured  the  pains  and  pen- 
alties of  "heresy"  therefor.  He  believed  in  the 
true  spiritual  life,  in  an  age  of  dead  formalism; 
he  believed  in  "  revivals "  as  divine,  in  an  age 
when  those  around  him  counted  them  only  out- 
bursts of  fanaticism.  He  believed  in  the  volun- 
tary support  of  the  gospel,  in  an  age  which  com- 
pelled its  support  by  law.  He  believed  in  the 
free  fellowship  of  the  churches  in  a  time  when 
the  rule  of  consociation  was  an  iron  bondage, — 
anticipating  by  a  century  and  a  half  the  rejec- 
tion by  the  Connecticut  churches  of  the  Saybrook 
system  and  their  adoption  of  the  pure  Congre- 
gationalism of  the  Cambridge  platform  instead. 
Dr.  Henry  Bronson's  estimate  of  him,  in  the  "  His- 
tory of  Waterbury,"  is  an  entirely  mistaken  one. 
He  was  not  deposed  from  the  ministry,*  as  stated 
in  the  "  History,"  nor  was  his  religious  fanaticism 
the  occasion  of  the  formation  of  the  Episcopal 
church  in  Northbury;  for,  as  we  have  seen,  that 
church  was  made  up  originally  of  "  mad  Congrega- 
tionalists  "  who  "  declared  for  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land "  as  their  only  way  of  escape  from  the  pay- 
ment of  taxes. 

From  the  settlement  of  the  second  pastor,   the 
Rev.  Andrew  Storrs,  the  course  of  the  society  was 

*  The  record  is  as  follows:  "At  a  meeting  of  the  Association  of  New  Haven 
county,  regularly  convened  at  Westbury,  September  241)1,  1745,  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Todd  of  Northbury,  appearing,  made  acknowledgment  to  the  acceptance  of  the 
Association  for  assisting  at  the  ordination  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Lee  at  Salisbury.  " 


THE  CHURCH  IN  OXFORD.  131 

"plain  sailing."  Mr.  Storrs*  pastorate  continued 
until  his  death  in  1785,  that  is,  for  twenty  years. 
He  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  Simon  Waterman, 
who  was  settled  in  1787  and  dismissed  in  1809.  Mr. 
Waterman's  successor,  the  Rev.  Luther  Hart,  was 
settled  in  1810  and  was  pastor  at  Northbury  until 
his  death,  in  1834.  The  first  four  pastorates  cov- 
ered a  period  of  ninety  years.  The  Rev.  Ephraim 
Lyman  was  pastor  from  1835  to  1851.  The  only 
other  pastorate  of  like  length  was  that  of  the  Rev. 
E.  B.  Hillard,  who  was  settled  in  1869  and  dis- 
missed in  1889. 

The  town  of  Plymouth  was  incorporated  in  1795 — 
Northbury  society  having  first,  with  Westbury 
society,  become  incorporated  in  the  town  of  Water- 
town,  in  1780.  The  ecclesiastical  societies  in  each 
instance  took  the  initial  steps,  so  that  the  town 
was  in  each  case  an  evolution  from  the  society. 


THE    CHURCH    IN    OXFORD. 

BY    J.    A. 

The  Rev.  Joseph  Moss,  third  pastor  of  the  church 
in  Derby,  died  on  the  2nd  of  January,  1732,  and  his 
successor,  Mr.  Daniel  Humphrey,  was  ordained  in 
March,  1734.  During  the  interval  between  these 
dates,  that  is,  in  March,  1733,  certain  inhabitants  of 
Quaker  Farm,  in  the  northern  part  of  Derby,  peti- 
tioned the  town  "  for  abate  in  the  town's  charge." 
The  petition  was  not  accompanied  with  any  writ- 
ten statement  of  the  grounds  on  which  it  was 
based,  but  there  is  little  doubt  that  the  object  of 


132        TEE  MOTHER  AND   THE  DAUGHTERS. 

the  petitioners  was  to  secure  exemption  from  taxa- 
tion for  the  support  of  the  minister — an  exemption 
which,  under  the  circumstances,  they  might  with 
special  propriety  ask  for.  The  town  consented  to 
"abate  these  our  neighbors  four  pence  upon  the 
pound  on  the  grand  list  for  two  years  from  this 
date,"  and  this  was  the  rate  which  had  been 
allowed  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Moss  for  some  time  before 
his  death. 

In  April,  1740,  the  "north  farmers"  of  the  town 
of  Derby  prepared  a  memorial  for  presentation  to 
the  General  Assembly,  asking  that  they  might  be 
set  apart  as  an  ecclesiastical  society.  The  Assem- 
bly did  not  see  fit  to  grant  their  petition  imme- 
diately, but  appointed  a  committee,  as  usual,  to 
consider  the  matter.  In  December  of  the  same 
year,  while  the  matter  was  under  consideration, 
the  town  appointed  three  agents  to  confer  with  the 
"  north  farmers  "  with  reference  to  establishing  "  a 
dividing  line  between  the  north  and  south  parts  of 
Derby  township,  in  order  to  make  an  ecclesiastical 
society  in  the  north  part  of  said  township,"  and 
offered  to  excuse  all  the  north  farmers  from  paying 
any  ministerial  charge  to  the  present  minister  of 
Derby  from  the  year  1740,  "provided  they  hire 
preaching  among  themselves  for  the  whole  year." 
At  the  next  May  session,  the  legislative  committee 
reporting  in  their  favor,  permission  was  granted  by 
the  General  Assembly,  to  the  north  farmers  of 
the  town  of  Derby,  together  with  certain  inhabi- 
tants of  the  town  of  Woodbury  and  of  the  south- 
western part  of  Waterbury,  to  organize  a  separate 
ecclesiastical  society, — to  be  called  Oxford.  The 
Waterbury  men  who  were  embraced  in  the  new 


THE  CHURCH  IN  OXFORD.  133 

organization  were  Isaac  Trowbridge,  John  Weed, 
Jonas  Weed,  Joseph  Weed,  Thomas  Osborn  and 
Joseph  Osborn. 

Officers  were  elected,  and  the  organization  of  the 
new  society  thus  completed,  on  the  3oth  of  June, 
1741.  On  the  6th  of  October  the  society  by  a  two- 
thirds  vote  decided  to  build  a  meeting  house,  and 
asked  the  General  Assembly,  as  was  customary,  to 
send  a  committee  to  "  fix  the  place  whereon  their 
meeting  house  shall  be  erected  and  built."  The 
site  selected  was  at  the  south  end  of  the  hill  com- 
monly called  "Jack's  Hill,"  and  "near  the  high- 
way that  runs  on  the  east  side  of  Little  River,  on 
land  belonging  to  Ephraim  Washborn."  Meetings 
of  the  society  were  held  at  private  houses  until 
March,  1743.  The  meeting  of  June  2ist,  1743,  was 
held  at  the  new  meeting  house.  This  first  place  of 
worship  was  occupied  for  more  than  fifty  years. 
On  the  3d  of  January,  1793,  the  society  voted  to 
build  a  new  one.  It  was  not  finished  until  1795  or 
later,  and  is  the  edifice  now  in  use. 

In  May,  1743,  those  residing  within  the  bounds  of 
the  Oxford  society  were  authorized  to  "embody 
themselves  in  church  estate,  by  and  with  the  con- 
sent and  approbation  of  the  neighboring  churches, 
and  to  settle  a  minister  according  to  the  establish- 
ment of  the  churches  in  this  government."  The 
early  records  having  disappeared,  the  names  of 
those  who  came  together  to  organize  the  church 
are  unknown;  nor  can  any  one  say  how  many  of 
the  members  belonged  to  each  or  either  of  the 
towns  represented  in  the  society.  Probably  a 
larger  number  belonged  to  Derby  than  to  either 
Woodbury  or  Waterbury;  but  there  is  no  reason  to 


134 


THE  MOTHER  AND   THE  DAUGHTERS. 


doubt  that  some  of  the  inhabitants  of  Waterbury, 
and  members  of  the  Waterbury  church,  found  a 
place  in  the  new  organization.  The  eight  men 
already  mentioned  as  belonging  to  Waterbury  may 
possibly,  judging  from  their  surnames,  have  repre- 
sented only  three  or  four  families;  but  these  must 
have  been  enrolled  in  the  old  First  society,  and 
some  of  the  members  of  the  new  church  probably 
came  from  their  several  households.  The  church 
in  Oxford  is  not  a  daughter  of  Waterbury  in  the 
same  sense  as  are  the  other  churches  of  the 
vicinage;  but  Waterbury  undoubtedly  has  a  claim 
upon  it. 

The  church  was  organized  on  the  pth  of  January, 
1745.  The  first  pastor,  Mr.  Jonathan  Lyman,  was 
ordained  on  the  4th  of  October  in  the  same  year. 
He  was  a  brother  of  General  Phineas  Lyman,  and 
graduated  from  Yale  College  in  1742.  His  salary 
was  fixed  at  125  pounds  a  year,  and  his  "settle- 
ment "  was  500  pounds,  to  be  paid  in  four  yearly 
instalments.*  He  served  the  church  until  his 
death,  which  was  the  result  of  an  accident.  He 
was  thrown  from  his  horse  and  instantly  killed,  in 
October,  1763.  His  successor,  Mr.  David  Brownson, 
graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1762.  He  was 
ordained  in  April,  1764, — the  ordination  sermon 
being  preached  by  the  Rev.  Nathaniel  Taylor,  of 
New  Milford.  Mr.  Brownson's  pastorate  covered  a 
period  of  forty  years.  From  the  time  of  his  death^ 
November,  1806,  the  church  was  without  a  settled 
pastor  until  May,  1811,  when  Mr.  Nathaniel  Free- 
man was  called.  He  served  them  for  three  years^ 

*  The  "  legal  tender  "  of  Connecticut  at  this  time  was  valued  at  the  rate  of  four 
dollars  to  one  dollar  in  silver. 


THE  CHURCH  IN  OXFORD.  135 

and  was  succeeded  by  a  series  of  "  stated  supplies," 
one  of  whom,  the  Rev.  Ephraim  G.  Swift,  remained 
with  the  parish  from  December,  1818,  to  June,  1822, 
and  another,  the  Rev.  Sayres  Gazley,  from  July, 
1827,  to  January,  1829.  The  Rev.  Abraham  Brown 
was  settled  in  June,  1830,  and  was  dismissed  in 
August,  1838;  the  Rev.  Stephen  Topliff  was  settled 
in  September,  1841,  and  remained  until  July  ist, 
1860.  The  Rev.  John  Churchill,  whose  pastorate  of 
the  North  church  in  Woodbury  was  terminated  in 
June,  1869,  began  soon  after  to  preach  in  Oxford, 
and  served  as  pastor  without  settlement  until  1876. 
He  was  succeeded,  after  an  interval,  by  the  Rev. 
Frederic  E.  Snow,  one  of  the  "  ministers  raised 
up  "  in  the  First  church  in  Waterbury.  He  became 
a  member  of  that  church,  on  profession  of  his 
faith,  May  3d,  1868,  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the 
New  Haven  Centre  Association  of  ministers,  May 
ist,  1877,  and  was  ordained  and  installed  pastor  of 
the  church  in  Oxford,  April  2 ist,  1880.  Mr.  Snow 
was  dismissed,  to  become  pastor  of  another  church, 
July  24,  1883.  The  Rev.  James  B.  Cleaveland  served 
the  church  during  1886  and  1887,  and  was  followed 
by  the  Rev.  Henry  M.  Hazeltine,  whose  pastorate 
began  July  ist,  1888,  and  still  continues. 

The  population  of  Oxford  has  never  been  large, 
and  throughout  a  considerable  part  of  its  history 
there  have  been  four  places  of  worship  in  the  town; 
so  that  the  membership  of  the  church  has  of  neces- 
sity been  small.  Although  revivals  have  repeatedly 
taken  place,  so  that  thirty  were  added  to  the  church 
in  one  year  (1842)  and  thirty-three  in  another 
(1853),  nevertheless  the  church  has  not  held  its  own 
in  respect  to  numbers,  and  during  a  large  part  of 


136        THE  MOTHER  AND   THE  DAUGHTERS. 

its  later  history  has  been  partly  dependent  on  aid 
received  from  the  Missionary  society  of  the  state. 
In  1858  there  were  only  eighty-seven  resident  mem- 
bers, and  the  number  has  since  been  reduced  by 
deaths  and  removals  to  less  than  sixty. 

But  the  church,  although  feeble,  has  not  lived  in 
vain.  Its  contributions  to  benevolent  and  mis- 
sionary objects,  since  these  have  been  regularly 
reported,  amount  to  a  considerable  sum;  it  has 
sent  out  into  other  churches,  including  the  First 
church  in  Waterbury,  men  who  are  prominent 
in  the  business  world  and  active  in  Christian 
work,  and  it  has  raised  up  several  ministers.  One 
of  these,  the  Rev.  Andrew  L.  Stone,  D.  D.,  filled 
important  places  and  acquired  a  wide  reputation. 
He  was  born  in  Oxford,  November  25th,  1815,  and 
graduated  at  Yale  College  in  the  class  of  1837.  He 
was  pastor  at  Middletown,  Conn.,  and  afterward  at 
Boston,  Mass.,  in  the  famous  Park  street  church, 
where  he  remained  for  sixteen  years.  In  the  civil 
war  he  was  chaplain  of  the  Massachusetts  Forty- 
fifth  regiment,  and  in  1866  became  pastor  of  the 
First  Congregational  Church  in  San  Francisco.  He 
was  made  "pastor  emeritus"  in  1881,  and  died  Jan- 
uary xyth,  1892. 


THE  CHURCH  IN  WOLCOTT. 

BY    THE    REV,    ISAIAH    P.    SMITH. 

It  is  with  pleasure  that  I  bring  to  you  congratu- 
lations as  a  representative  of  the  church  in  Wol- 
cott,  one  of  your  daughters.  We  are  near  you  as 
regards  distance,  and  our  life  has  always  been  in 


THE  CHURCH  IN  WOLCOTT.  137 

various  ways  connected  with  yours.  You  are  much 
older  as  well  as  larger  than  we  are,  our  church 
existence  having  begun  in  1773,  when  you  had 
reached  the  quite  mature  age  of  eighty-two  years. 
We  had  our  origin  in  a  somewhat  different  way 
from  most  daughters,  being  one-half  the  daughter 
of  one  mother  and  the  other  half  the  daughter  of 
another  mother,  one  of  our  mothers  being  also  the 
daughter  of  our  other  mother.  But  as  this  was  all 
in  the  same  family,  it  did  not  disturb  either  one  of 
us  in  the  incipient  stages  of  our  existence. 

To  be  more  explicit — the  town  of  Wolcott  was 
not  incorporated  until  several  years  after  the 
church  was  organized.  The  tract  of  country  em- 
braced in  it  was  situated  between  Farmington  and 
Waterbury,  and  previous  to  the  organization  of  our 
church  one-half  of  the  people  were  included  in  the 
one  town  and  one-half  in  the  other.  The  original 
members  of  the  church  came,  some  from  Farming- 
ton  and  some  from  Waterbury;  and  the  society 
received  a  name — Farmingbury — made  up  (as  was 
frequently  the  case)  from  the  names  of  the  two 
mother  towns. 

In  its  early  history  Farmingbury  was  a  thriving 
agricultural  region,  and  the  church  for  the  first 
fifty  years  of  its  existence  was  not  inferior  to 
many  of  its  neighbors  in  numbers  and  strength. 
Indeed  it  paid,  for  a  considerable  number  of  years, 
a  larger  salary  to  its  pastors  than  this  ancient  and 
honorable  church,  whose  bi-centenary  we  now  cel- 
ebrate, paid  at  the  same  time.  But  as  business 
began  to  develop  in  the  valleys,  and  the  west 
began  to  open  up,  the  people  in  this,  as  in  other 
hill  towns,  emigrated  in  large  numbers,  preferring 


138        THE  MOTHER  AND   THE  DAUGHTERS. 

in  some  instances  to  go  where  the  climate  was  less 
healthy  and  the  air  less  pure  than  that  of  the 
heights  they  had  occupied,  because  of  the  better 
prospect  of  financial  success. 

But  we  have  had  the  satisfaction  of  helping  in 
this  way  to  build  up  other  places,  not  only  finan- 
cially but  morally  and  religiously.  Our  town  has 
shown  itself  successful  in  raising  men,  if  not  in  the 
highest  degree  flourishing  in  some  other  respects. 
Of  late,  however,  it  has  received  emigrants  from 
the  cities,  some  preferring  the  independent  life  of 
the  farmer  to  the  confined  and  monotonous  experi- 
ences of  manufacturing  and  mercantile  establish- 
ments, and  some,  who  are  employed  in  your  thriv- 
ing city,  choosing  to  have  homes  in  our  quiet  town 
and  to  enjoy  our  rural  associations.  Is  it  not  possi- 
ble that  the  tide  may  turn  with  such  towns  as  ours, 
and  that  for  awhile  we  may  receive  from  other 
places  more  people  who  will  come  to  make  their 
home  with  us,  than  we  send  out  from  our  borders  ? 
At  any  rate  we  are  hopeful.  There  are  abandoned 
farms  in  Wolcott,  but  we  are  not  disposed  to  raise 
a  doleful  lamentation  over  the  fact.  In  the  open- 
ing opportunities  of  the  west  and  the  increase  of 
business  along  the  lines  of  railways,  it  is  not 
strange  that  some  of  the  best  places  should  be 
deserted.  Enterprising  young  men  have  gone 
away,  and  after  the  death  of  aged  parents  the  old 
homestead  has  been  neglected,  and  has  run  down 
and  been  finally  deserted;  not  because  the  land  is 
poor,  but  because  the  people  have  been  attracted 
elsewhere,  often  to  their  own  great  disadvantage. 
It  is  a  fact  that  some  of  the  poorest  land  in  Wol- 
cott is  cultivated  and  in  a  thriving  condition,  while 


THE  CHURCH  IN  WOLCOTT. 


139 


some  of  the  best  has  been  allowed  to  grow  up  to 
forests.  The  best  farms  eighty  years  ago  were  in 
a  district  where  now  there  is  not  a  single  house. 

The  church  had  its  period  of  highest  prosperity 
from  one  hundred  to  sixty  years  ago,  when  the 
population  was  about  twice  as  large  as  it  is  at 
present.  At  the  time  it  was  organized,  it  required 
much  self-denial  to  sustain  religious  institutions; 
but  the  church  had  leading  men  who  were  earnest 
and  determined  in  this  respect,  and  they  laid  foun- 
dations on  which  others  successfully  built.  They 
were  fortunate  in  their  first  pastor,  the  Rev.  Alex- 
ander Gillet,  who,  coming  to  them  from  Yale 
College  just  before  the  Revolutionary  war,  labored 
for  them  with  great  energy  during  that  trying 
period.  His  labors  resulted  in  repeated  revivals  of 
religion  and  in  large  additions  to  the  church.  His 
successor,  the  Rev.  Israel  B.  Woodward,  was  also 
instrumental  in  largely  increasing  the  member- 
ship, and  was  highly  esteemed  by  the  people  of  his 
charge.  Good  men  in  succession  followed  him,  but 
I  will  not  dwell  upon  their  history.  The  church 
has  been  blessed  with  men  of  piety  and  faithful- 
ness in  the  pastoral  office.  Besides,  it  has  had 
deacons  and  other  leading  men,  who  have  made 
their  lives  greatly  effective  for  good;  among  whom 
I  would  especially  mention  Deacon  Isaac  Bronson 
as  a  man  of  good  ability  and  very  devoted  piety. 
Between  two  pastorates  he  conducted  the  religious 
services  most  of  the  time  for  five  years.  He  died 
in  1845,  at  tne  a£e  of  eighty-four.  During  the  years 
of  its  history,  the  church  has  had  many  revivals  of 
religion,  which  have  resulted  in  large  additions  to 
its  membership. 


1 4o        THE  MOTHER  AND   THE  DAUGHTERS. 

In  1834  an  Episcopal  church  was  organized,  and 
it  did  a  good  work  for  many  years;  but  because  of 
changed  circumstances,  resulting  from  a  decreased 
population,  religious  services  were  discontinued 
more  than  twenty-five  years  ago.  The  church  edi- 
fice still  remains. 

Our  town  has  had  its  political  excitements  in 
days  gone  by.  We  have  possessed  the  Yankee 
traits  of  independent  thinking  and  earnest  acting. 
So  much  was  this  the  case  that  in  the  days  of 
the  anti-slavery  discussion  the  stove  in  the  meet- 
ing house  was  blown  up  with  powder,  and  the 
house  destroyed  by  fire.  The  meeting,  which  was 
to  have  been  held  in  it,  was  held  by  its  ashes.  At 
the  present  time,  I  am  glad  to  say,  we  are  at  peace; 
and  we  hope  it  may  not  again  be  necessary  that 
our  moral  and  religious  atmosphere  should  be 
cleared  by  storms  like  those  of  other  days. 

We  bring  our  good  wishes  to  you  to-day;  and  we 
hope  that  as  in  the  past  you  have  not  only  become 
great  and  have  conveyed  blessings  to  those  directly 
under  your  influence,  but  have  sent  out  many  from 
among  yourselves  to  do  good  elsewhere,  in  these 
churches  which  have  sprung  from  you  and  in  places 
far  remote,  so  it  may  be  in  the  future.  And  in  this 
grand  and  glorious  work,  the  humblest  as  well  as 
the  highest  will  at  last  receive  a  rich  reward. 

The  following  anecdote,  which  has  more  than  once  ap- 
peared in  print,  illustrates  so  well  the  relations  of  Wolcott  to 
Waterbury  in  recent  days,  and  at  the  same  time  the  relations 
of  the  country  churches  to  the  cities  throughout  New  England, 
that  it  may  very  properly  be  reproduced  as  an  addendum  to 
Mr.  Smith's  paper : 

"  Nearly  twenty  years  ago,  at  one  of  the  Connecticut  Sun- 
day school  conventions,  a  quaint  old  minister  from  Wolcott 


THE  VHTTRCH  IN  NAUGATUCK.  141 

spoke  of  the  doubts  and  discouragements  he  met  with  in  his 
field  of  work.  '  Mine  is  not  an  encouraging  field,'  he  said. 
'  There  are  few  young  people  in  it  at  the  best,  and  they  are 
liable  to  leave  at  any  time.  Once  in  a  while  a  bright  young 
man  is  brought  into  the  church,  but  just  as  soon  as  he  gets  to 
taking  part  in  the  prayer  meeting  and  teaching  in  the  Sunday 
school,  and  I  begin  to  have  comfort  in  him,  he  is  off  for  a 
busier  centre,  and  I  seem  all  alone  again.  I  have  sometimes 
wondered  why  the  Lord  wanted  that  Wolcott  church  kept  up. 
but  I  think  I  have  found  out.  I  was  down  at  Waterbury  a  few 
weeks  ago,  and  there  I  found  that  a  deacon  of  the  First  church 
— a  good  and  substantial  man  in  the  community — was  a  Wol- 
cott boy.  And  then  I  found  that  a  deacon  of  the  Second 
church  was  another  Wolcott  boy.  And  they  told  me  that  there 
had  been  other  deacons  from  Wolcott  in  those  churches  before 
now.  That  news  was  a  great  encouragement  to  me.  As  I  rode 
up  the  hill  that  night  to  my  home  I  said  to  myself:  I  see  now 
why  the  Lord  wants  the  Wolcott  church  kept  up;  it  is  to 
supply  Waterbury  with  deacons.' "  * 


THE   CHURCH    IN    NAUGATUCK. 

BY    MR.    FRANKLIN    WARREN. 

The  church  in  Naugatuck,  the  fifth  daughter  of 
this  venerable  mother,  is  doubly  unfortunate 
to-day;  first  and  chiefly,  in  that  she  comes  to  this 
home-gathering  wearing  as  it  were  the  garb  of 
widowhood,  mourning  the  withdrawal  of  her 
earthly  beloved,  the  Rev.  William  F.  Blackman, 

*  The  centenary  of  the  church  in  Wolcott  was  celebrated  on  the  loth  and  nth 
of  September,  1873,  during  the  pastorate  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Orcutt.  The  services 
on  that  occasion  are  reported,  and  a  detailed  history  of  the  church  and  society  pub- 
lished, in  a  handsome  volume  of  608  pages,  bearing  the  following  title  : 

"  History  of  the  Town  of  Wolcott  (Connecticut)  from  1731  to  1874,  with  an 
Account  of  the  Centenary  Meeting,  September  loth  and  nth,  1873,  and  with  the 
Genealogies  of  the  Families  of  the  Town.  By  Rev.  Samuel  Orcutt.  Waterbury, 
Conn.:  1874." — EDITOR. 


I42        THE  MOTHER  AND   THE  DAUGHTERS. 

who,  notwithstanding  his  professions  of  affection 
for  her,  listened  to  the  voice  of  another  and  a 
fairer  charmer,  and  a  few  weeks  ago  left  her  dis- 
consolate in  her  grief.  Disconsolate, — and  yet 
truth  compels  me  to  say  that,  in  accordance  with 
human  nature,  she  has,  notwithstanding  his  so 
recent  departure  and  her  more  than  one  hundred 
years,  already  begun  to  look  around  among  eligible 
men  for  his  successor.  Secondly,  she  is  unfor- 
tunate in  the  fact  that  with  a  lamentable  disregard 
of  the  eternal  fitness  of  things,  the  one  to  whom 
has  been  given  the  duty  and  privilege  of  represent- 
ing her  to-day  is  one  whose  sojourn  with  her  has 
been  brief,  and  whose  personal  knowledge  of  facts 
connected  with  her  history  is  very  limited.  And 
yet,  I  claim  by  relationship  a  connecting  link 
between  this  old  mother  church  and  her  middle- 
aged  daughter  in  Naugatuck;  for  my  heart  holds 
sweet  memories  of  a  dear  sister  who  when  a  child, 
more  than  threescore  years  ago,  was  a  member  of 
the  Sunday  school  of  this  First  church — the  first 
Sunday  school  ever  established  in  Waterbury — and 
who  one  year  ago  fell  asleep  in  Jesus,  a  member  of 
the  church  in  Naugatuck.  And  so  through  many 
years  there  have  come  to  me  from  time  to  time 
glimpses  of  the  life  and  membership  of  the  Nauga- 
tuck church;  and  these,  with  a  few  facts  furnished 
by  others,  will  be  all  that  I  shall  attempt  to  bring 
you  to-day. 

I  find  that  according  to  the  earliest  records  the 
people  of  that  part  of  Waterbury  called  Judd's 
Meadows,  and  those  parts  of  Milford  and  Derby 
adjoining  (and,  according  to  some  authorities,  what 
is  now  called  Prospect,  then  Columbia)  obtained 


THE  CHURCH  IN  NAUGATUCK.  143 

from  the  "  governor  and  company "  convened  at 
Hartford  in  May,  1773,  what  were  in  those  days 
termed  "  society  privileges  " — privileges  pertain- 
ing not  only  to  strictly  religious  matters,  but  also 
to  providing  schools  and  teachers,  laying  of  taxes, 
etc.  A  society  was  formed  the  same  year,  which 
by  virtue  of  these  "  privileges  "  maintained  public 
worship  in  schools  and  dwelling  houses  for  nearly 
twelve  years,  during  which  time  eight  different 
ministers  officiated  as  supplies,  or  as  candidates. 

On  the  22d  of  February,  1781,  a  church  was 
organized  under  the  name  of  the  Congregational 
Church  of  Salem.  It  consisted  of  ten  male  and  six 
female  members,  most  of  whom  were  from  the 
church  in  Waterbury.  The  first  church  edifice  was 
built  in  1782,  and  stood  on  the  east  side  of  the 
Naugatuck  river.  The  first  pastor  was  the  Rev. 
Abraham  Fowler,  who  was  settled  in  1785.  During 
the  next  seventy  years  his  successors  were  Jabez 
Chadwick,  Stephen  Dodd,  Amos  Pettingill,  Seth 
Sackett,  Chauncey  G.  Lee  and  Albert  K.  Teele.  In 
those  early  years  the  pecuniary  compensation  of 
the  minister  was  of  necessity  small,  three  or  four 
hundred  dollars  per  annum  being  all  that  the  few 
brave  souls  could  afford  to  give,  who,  with  little 
ready  money,  but  with  strong  hands  and  willing 
hearts,  were  striving  to  maintain  the  preaching  of 
the  gospel  among  them.  But  as  we  read  the  record 
it  is  interesting  to  note  that  as  the  figures  repre- 
senting the  number  of  church  members  increased, 
those  representing  the  pastor's  salary  increased 
also,  and  in  a  proportion  highly  creditable  to  the 
people  and  doubtless  very  gratifying  to  the  pastor 
and  his  family. 


144 


THE  MOTHER  AND   THE  DAUGHTERS. 


In  1831  the  church  building  was  removed  across 
the  river  to  its  present  site.  In  1854  it  was  again 
removed,  and  the  present  edifice  erected.  This  is 
a  building  similar  in  style  and  interior  arrange- 
ment to  that  of  the  Second  Congregational  church  of 
this  city,  excepting  that  the  rooms  for  prayer  and 
social  meetings  were,  until  recently,  in  the  base- 
ment, which  was  often  cold  and  damp,  and  gener- 
ally depressing  in  its  effect. 

Of  the  ministers  who  have  served  the  church 
within  the  last  forty  years,  the  Rev.  Messrs. 
Charles  C.  Painter,  Frederick  T.  Perkins  and 
Stephen  C.  Leonard  were  not  installed  pastors,  but 
did  good  and  fruitful  service  nevertheless  for  the 
Master  while  with  us.  Of  those  who  were  installed 
as  pastors,  the  Rev.  Charles  S.  Sherman  is  perhaps 
the  most  prominent.*  He  is  conspicuous,  not  only 
for  the  length  of  his  pastorate,  which  was  nearly 
twenty  years,  and  for  his  peculiarly  gentle  and 
Christ-like  character,  through  which  he  won  and 
still  retains  the  love  and  esteem  of  the  people  of 
Naugatuck  to  a  remarkable  degree,  but  also  as  one 
who  had  been  for  several  years  a  missionary  in 
foreign  lands,  and  who  after  his  return  to  this 
country  gave  illustrated  lectures  on  Palestine.  In 
those  days,  when  pastoral  trips  to  the  Holy  Land 
were  like  "angels'  visits,"  a  man  whose  feet  had 
trodden  that  sacred  soil  was  looked  upon  with  a 
degree  of  reverence  akin  to  awe;  and  when  in  our 
youthful  days  we  beheld  the  reverend  gentleman, 

*To  Mr.  Sherman's  centennial  sermon  I  am  indebted  for  most  of  the  facts  in 
the  early  history  of  the  church  and  society.  Il  is  entitled:  "  A  Memorial  Dis- 
course in  commemoration  of  the  National  Centennial,  delivered  in  the  Congrega- 
tional Church,  Naugatuck,  Conn.,  July  9,  1876,  by  the  Rev.  Charles  S.  Sherman, 
a  former  pastor.  Waterbury,  Conn.:  1876." — F.  W. 


THE 'CHURCH  IN  NAUGATUCK.  145 

then  a  stranger  to  us,  with  his  tall,  dignified  form 
arrayed  in  oriental  robes,  and  heard  him  speak 
of  those  far  away  places  with  mysterious  Bible 
names,  in  so  familiar  a  manner,  he  was  to  our 
minds  "not  a  whit  behind  the  very  chiefest 
apostle."  During  his  ministry  in  Naugatuck,  the 
Lord  added  to  the  clmrch  246  souls. 

The  next  settled  pastor  was  the  Rev.  D  A. 
Easton,  who  was  also  a  very  acceptable  and  suc- 
cessful minister.  During  his  pastorate  of  three 
years,  108  persons  were  added  to  the  church. 
But  we  regret  to  add  that,  after  enjoying  the  affec- 
tion and  esteem  of  the  community,  and  maintaining 
a  high  standard  of  Christian  character  throughout 
his  stay  with  us,  he  at  last  went  down — to  New 
York,  and  became  a  broker  ! 

Last  but  by  no  means  least  among  these  worthy 
names  is  that  of  William  F.  Blackman,  whose 
removal  from  Naugatuck  has  left  an  aching  void  in 
all  hearts.  He  is  too  well  known  in  this  vicinity  to 
need  any  eulogy  from  me.  For  nearly  seven  years 
he  gave  to  this  church  the  utmost  of  his  love  and 
effort,  and  succeeded  in  gaining  the  affection  and 
confidence  of  the  people  (not  only  of  the  members 
of  his  own  and  other  churches,  but  of  those  outside 
of  any  church)  as  few  men  are  privileged  to  do.  We 
deeply  regret  his  loss,  but  rejoice  in  the  fact  that 
he  has  been  advanced  to  what  may  be  deemed  a 
higher  place  and  a  more  extended  influence. 

Probably  the  most  noticeable  work  of  the  society 
during  Mr.  Blackman's  pastorate  was  the  building 
of  what  is  called  the  "parish  house,"  the  idea  of 
which  was  conceived,  and  its  establishment  pro- 
vided for  and  assured  by  loving  and  generous 
7 


146        THE  MOTHER  AND    THE  DAUGHTERS. 

hearts,  before  he  came  among  us.  Its  possibilities 
of  benefit  to  the  church  and  community,  which  Mr. 
Blackman  foresaw,  at  once  enlisted  his  warmest 
interest  and  most  earnest  effort.  His  labors  of 
body  and  mind  were  constant  and  arduous  in  its 
behalf  from  the  commencement  of  the  work  until, 
on  the  xoth  day  of  October,  1888,  with  grateful  and 
joyous  hearts  we  saw  it  dedicated.  As  the  plan- 
ning and  paying  had  all  been  accomplished  before 
I  was  connected  with  the  church,  I  may  be  par- 
doned for  saying  that  this  parish  house  is,  for 
beauty  of  style  and  finish,  convenience  of  arrange- 
ment, and  adaptation  to  its  purposes,  unrivalled  in 
any  village  of  the  size  of  Naugatuck  and  in  very 
few  of  the  largest  cities.  In  this  building  are  now 
held  our  prayer  meetings,  social  meetings,  Sunday 
school  sessions,  etc.  It  also  contains  a  memorial 
library  and  reading  room,  free  to  the  public, — a  gift 
to  the  people  of  Naugatuck  from  a  member  of  the 
church.  Provision  is  made  by  the  "parish  house 
association  "  for  a  course  of  first-class  lectures  each 
winter,  at  extremely  low  rates,  also  for  literary  and 
musical  entertainments  of  such  a  nature  as  will  be 
not  only  interesting  but  educational  and  uplifting 
in  their  influence. 

It  seems  an  injustice  to  say  so  much  of  the 
growth  and  prosperity  of  the  church  and  so  much 
of  the  pastors  who  have  been  set  over  it,  and 
nothing  of  the  other  officers,  some  of  whom  have 
gone  to  their  reward,  while  others  have  borne  for 
a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  still  bear,  the  honor  and 
burden  of  office;  or  of  those  brethren  and  sisters 
whose  faith  and  self-denying,  consecrated  works 
have,  with  the  blessing  of  God,  made  it  possible  for 


THE  CHURCH  IN  NATJGATUCK.  I47 

us  to  report,  to-day,  that  our  membership  has 
increased  from  sixteen  to  more  than  300,  that  we 
have  a  Sunday  school  of  nearly  300  members,  and 
a  Christian  Endeavor  society  of  nearly  100,  that  we 
have  a  comfortable  house  of  worship,  a  parish 
house  such  as  I  have  described,  a  home  for  our  pas- 
tor (when  we  get  one),  and  a  society  free  from  debt. 
But  time  and  your  patience  will  not  allow  us  to  do 
more  than  this. 

It  may  be  thought  that  this  report  presents  only 
the  bright  side  of  the  picture,  and  suggests  that  we 
are  a  little  self-satisfied  and  egotistical.  But  what 
daughter  is  there  who  does  not  want  everybody, 
and  especially  her  mother,  to  think  that  she  has 
done  well  since  setting  up  housekeeping  for  her- 
self ?  I  can  truly  say,  however,  that  I  have  no 
other  side  to  present.  There  may  have  been  in 
this  church  dissensions  and  quarrels,  grievous 
scandals  and  trials  for  heresy,  but  if  so,  it  was 
before  my  acquaintance  with  it  began,  and  they 
have  not  been  made  known  to  me.  We  are,  I 
believe,  a  united,  loving  family.  We  ask  of  thee,  O 
mother,  a  mother's  prayers,  and  a  mother's  bless- 
ing. May  no  act  of  ours  bring  a  blush  of  shame  to 
thy  fair  and  saintly  face,  or  a  pang  of  sorrow  to  thy 
loving  heart.  May  the  tide  of  holy  influence  that 
flows  from  thee  never  cease.  And  as  we,  in  our 
infancy,  were  called  by  the  name  of  Salem,  so 
mayest  thou,  in  thine  old  age,  be  a  true  Salem,  a 
house  of  perpetual  peace. 


148        THE  MOTHER  AND   THE  DAUGHTERS. 


THE  CHURCH  AT  NORTHFIELD. 

BY    J.    A. 

The  date  of  the  first  settlement  of  Northfield  is 
not  certainly  known;  but  it  must  have  been  before 
1762.  Among  the  earliest  settlers  were  Titus  Tur- 
ner and  John  Humaston,  who  came  from  North 
Haven  with  their  ox-teams,  consuming  a  week  on 
their  journey.  The  parish  was  at  first  known  as 
South-East  Farms;  the  name  "Northfield"  was 
formed,  like  a  good  many  others  in  Connecticut,  by 
piecing  together  portions  of  other  names.  The 
"  North  "  came  from  Northbury  and  the  "  field  " 
from  Litchfield.  The  first  meeting  for  ecclesiastical 
purposes,  of  which  any  record  remains,  was  held 
October  i5th,  1789,  at  which  it  was  voted  to  hire  a 
minister  for  six  months.  A  "  burying  yard  "  was 
laid  out  in  1791,  and  in  1792  a  committee  was 
appointed  to  build  a  meeting  house.  On  April 
2ist,  1794,  it  was  voted  to  petition  the  General  As- 
sembly to  be  set  off  as  a  distinct  society,  and  on 
the  24th  of  November  it  was  voted  to  extend  a  call 
to  the  Rev.  Joseph  E.  Camp,  and  to  give  him  .a 
"  settlement"  of  a  hundred  pounds,  and  more  if  it 
could  be  raised, — his  salary  to  be  seventy  pounds  a 
year  (lawful  money)  for  four  years,  seventy-five 
pounds  the  fifth  year,  eighty  pounds  the  sixth  year, 
and  eighty-five  pounds  thereafter.  An  additional 
vote  of  firewood  was  afterward  made,  the  amount 
not  to  exceed  "  thirty  cords,  sled  length."  Thus  far 
the  people  had  enjoyed  society  privileges  for  only 
six  months  of  the  year,  having  to  pay  taxes  for  the 


THE  CHURCH  AT  NORTHFIELD. 


149 


support  of  the  gospel  in  Litchfield  the  rest  of  the 
time. 

The  organization  of  the  Northfield  church  took 
place  on  the  ist  of  January,  1795.  The  earliest 
record  opens  as  follows: 

A  number  of  members  from  the  several  churches  of  North- 
bury,  Litchfield,  North  Haven,  Westbury  and  Cheshire  having 
by  the  providence  of  God  fixed  their  residence  in  this  society, 
and  being  desirous  of  enjoying  gospel  ordinances  among  them- 
selves, met  this  day  at  the  house  of  Mr.  William  Washburn 
for  the  purpose  of  forming  themselves  into  a  regular  gospel 
church. 

Of  those  who  united  in  the  new  organization  one 
came  from  the  Cheshire  church,  two  from  North 
Haven,  two  from  Litchfield,  two  from  Westbury  and 
seven  from  the  church  in  Northbury.  Of  the  four- 
teen members  nine  were  received  from  the  two 
churches  (Watertown  and  Plymouth)  which  had 
sprung  from  the  old  church  in  Waterbury. 

The  services  of  the  day  began  with  prayer,  and 
a  sermon  was  preached  by  the  Rev.  Simon  Water- 
man, of  Plymouth,  on  the  text,  "  Ye  are  the  light 
of  the  world."  Mr.  Waterman  "  acted  as  modera- 
tor, in  leading  and  assisting  the  several  members 
in  forming  themselves  into  a  distinct  church 
upon  the  gospel  plan."  These  persons  "exhibited 
proper  testimonials  of  their  regular  standing  in  the 
churches  from  which  they  came,"  and  "  did  expli- 
citly assent  and  consent "  to  a  brief  confession  of 
faith  and  a  covenant,  and  in  testimony  thereof  sub- 
scribed their  names,  after  which  "  they  were  declar- 
ed by  the  moderator  to  be  a  regular  church  of 
Christ  according  to  the  gospel  plan."  They  then 
unanimously  voted  to  invite  Mr.  Joseph  Eleazer 
Camp  to  settle  with  them  in  the  work  of  the  gospel 


I5o        THE  MOTHER   AND   THE  DAUGHTERS. 

ministry  and  take  the  pastoral  charge  of  them; 
and  Titus  Turner,  Abel  Atwater  and  John  Warner 
were  appointed  to  wait  on  Mr.  Camp  and  request 
his  answer.  It  was  voted  that  if  Mr.  Camp  accepted 
the  call,  this  committee  should  convene  a  council  of 
churches  to  ordain  him;  also,  that  on  the  day  of  fast- 
ing, previous  to  the  ordination,  the  church  should 
publicly  assent  to  the  articles  of  faith  just  adopted, 
and  renew  their  covenant  with  God  and  one  ano- 
ther; also  that  on  that  day  they  should  elect  dea- 
cons. The  fast  took  place  on  the  2nd  of  February, 
and  the  ordination  February  i2th,  1795. 

On  the  7th  of  September  following,  a  committee 
was  appointed  to  stake  out  the  green  and  fix  the 
site  for  the  meeting  house.  At  a  meeting  in  Novem- 
ber it  was  decided  that  the  meeting  house  should 
be  fifty  by  thirty-eight  feet,  and  a  subscription  was 
opened  for  materials  of  all  kinds.  The  house  was 
begun  in  the  summer  of  1796;  in  August,  1801,  it 
was  voted  to  finish  it  "as  plain  as  could  be  done 
with  decency,"  and  it  was  finished  in  1803.  In 
December  of  that  year  a  committee  of  eight  was 
appointed  to  "  seat  "  the  congregation.  Those  who 
paid  the  heaviest  taxes  were  assigned  seats  near- 
est the  pulpit,  after  which  the  order  was  dependent 
on  age. 

The  epoch  at  which  the  church  was  begun  was 
one  of  great  intellectual  activity  in  the  town  in 
which  it  was  situated.  The  famous  Litchfield  law 
school  was  then  in  full  career  under  Judge  Reeve, 
and  Miss  Pierce's  school  for  young  ladies  had 
lately  been  opened  in  the  same  village.  A  post- 
rider  had  not  long  before  begun  his  bi-weekly  trips 
to  New  York,  and  a  post  office  had  been  established 


THE  CHURCH  AT  NORTHFIELD.  151 

Wolcott  was  in  Washington's  cabinet,  and  members 
of  congress  and  several  officers  of  note  in  the  Rev- 
olution resided  there,  and  exercised  an  influence 
over  all  the  region  which  stimulated  both  enter- 
prise and  religion. 

Mr.  Camp's  pastorate  continued  until  June,  1837. 
By  that  time  the  people  thought  he  was  too  old  to 
preach,  and  he  was  dismissed.  During  his  forty- 
two  years  of  ministry  175  members  were  added  to 
the  church.  He  had  six  sons  and  a  daughter,  and 
as  his  salary  never  exceeded  four  hundred  dollars 
a  year,  he  found  it  necessary  "  to  work  his  land  like 
any  farmer."  An  anecdote  which  has  been  con- 
nected with  other  Connecticut  pastors  and  parishes 
seems  with  good  reason  to  be  credited  to  Mr.  Camp. 
Preaching  in  the  church  at  Wolcott,  in  exchange 
with  the  Wolcott  pastor,  he  announced  with  a  sig- 
nificance which  was  promptly  recognized  and 
resented,  the  hymn, 

Lord,  what  a  wretched  land  is  this, 
That  yields  us  no  supply  ! 

The  chorister,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  time, 
announced  the  tune,  and  we  may  suppose  he  did  it 
with  peculiar  satisfaction — saying,  "  Sing  North- 
field." 

Between  1837  and  1844  the  church  was  without  a 
settled  pastor.  The  pulpit  was  supplied  by  the  Rev. 
Messrs.  B.  H.  Campbell,  J.  W.  Salter,  Stephen  Hub- 
bell,  Aaron  Snow,  William  Ransom,  William  Rus- 
sell, Frank  Howe  and  Samuel  Moseley,  and  during 
this  period  twenty-two  were  received  as  members. 
The  Rev.  Joel  S.  Dickinson  was  pastor  from  Febru- 
ary, 1844  to  June,  1851.  The  Rev.  Lewis  Jessup 
was  settled  in  November,  1851,  and  remained  three 


152 


THE  MOTHER  AND   THE  DAUGHTERS. 


years;  after  which  the  Rev.  Noah  Coe  supplied  the 
pulpit  for  fifteen  months.  The  Rev.  Stephen  Rogers 
was  pastor  from  November,  1856,  to  February,  1859. 
Immediately  thereafter,  the  Rev.  James  Richards, 
D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  who  on  account  of  his  intemperance 
had  been  deposed  from  the  ministry  several  years 
before,  by  the  Presbytery  of  New  Orleans,  La.,  and 
was  then  teaching  a  school  at  Litchfield,  was  en- 
gaged to  supply  the  pulpit.  As  this  action  was  dis- 
approved by  the  Litchfield  South  Consociation, 
with  which  the  church  was  connected,  the  church 
on  June  2oth  dissolved  its  connection  with  that 
body.  Dr.  Richards's  engagement  terminated  in 
1860.  Other  pastors  have  served  the  church  as  fol- 
lows: Erastus  Colton,  1861-1864,  E.  W.  Tucker, 
1864-1866,  H.  N.  Gates,  1866-1871,  E.  B.  Sanford, 
1871-1873,  S.  G.  W.  Rankin,  1873-1874,  M.  J.  Callan, 
1874-1875,  William  Howard,  1875-1876,  H.  A.  Ott- 
man,  1877-1881,  E.  C.  Starr,  1881-1888,  Joseph  Kyte, 
1888  to  the  present  time. 

By  the  will  of  Captain  Asa  Hopkins,  a  former 
resident  of  Northfield,  who  died  in  New  Haven  in 
December,  1855,  a  fund  of  ten  thousand  dollars  was 
left  to  the  church,  its  proceeds  to  go  to  the  sup- 
port of  the  ministry.  A  legacy  of  about  two  thou- 
sand dollars,  conditioned  on  the  speedy  removal  of 
the  society's  debt  of  three  thousand,  was  received 
in  1870  from  the  estate  of  Mrs.  Wealthy  Hotch- 
kiss.  On  the  first  of  January,  1892,  a  legacy  of 
twelve  thousand  dollars  was  received  from  the  es- 
tate of  William  Gilbert,  of  Winsted, — one-third  of 
it  for  the  erection  of  a  building  to  serve  for  a  par- 
sonage and  also  as  a  place  for  a  public  library  free 
to  the  town,  one-fourth  for  a  first  purchase  of 


TEE  CHURCH  IN  MIDDLEBURY.  153 

books,  and  the  remaining  five  thousand  dollars  to 
constitute  a  permanent  fund  for  the  support  of  the 
library.* 


THE  CHURCH  IN  MIDDLEBURY. 

BY    THE    REV.  W.  F.  AVERY. 

It  is  my  privilege,  at  this  large  family  gathering, 
to  introduce  to  you  one  of  the  younger  daughters. 
At  her  birth  the  mother  was  already  one  hundred 
and  five  years  of  age,  and  this  little  one  has  now 
reached  her  ninety-fifth  year.  I  hope  to  show  that 
her  history  has  not  been  entirely  discreditable  to 
the  parent  or  the  household. 

Preparation  was  made  for  her  by  the  formation 
of  an  ecclesiastical  society  five  years  beforehand, 
that  is,  just  a  century  ago.  A  house  of  worship  was 
completed  in  1794,  two  years  before  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  church.  It  was  a  building  almost 
exactly  the  size  of  the  present  one,  standing  on 
the  opposite  side  of  our  pretty  park,  its  hospitable 
doors  opening  north,  south  and  west.  It  had 
square  pews,  and  over  the  high  pulpit  a  sounding 
board,  that  none  might  fail  to  hear  and  receive  the 
word.  The  feet  of  the  listeners  were  warmed  by 

*  Between  January  i,  1882,  and  June  26,  1887,  a  series  of  Parish  Papers,  sixteen 
in  number,  was  edited  and  issued  by  the  Rev.  E.  C.  Starr,  the  pastor  at  that  time, 
in  which  sketches  of  the  history  of  the  Northfield  church  and  society  and  the 
lives  of  the  successive  pastors  were  published.  From  these  sketches  and  the  doc- 
uments upon  which  they  are  based — obtained  through  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  Howard 
C.  Peck — the  foregoing  account  of  the  church  has  been  compiled.  Too  much  praise 
cannot  be  given  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Starr  for  his  painstaking  efforts  to  rescue  from 
oblivion  and  put  on  record  in  accurate  statement  the  facts  pertaining  to  the  life  of 
the  church  and  the  ministry  in  Northfield;  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  at  the  cen- 
tenary of  the  church,  January  i,  1895,  these  facts  may  be  reproduced,  "writ 
large  "  in  a  historical  discourse,  and  published  in  permanent  form. 


154 


THE  MOTHER  AND   TEE  DAUGHTERS. 


foot  stoves  which  were  filled  in  the  intermission 
with  coals  at  the  Sunday  house  near  by. 

To  organize  the  church,  there  gathered  on  the 
roth  of  February,  1796,  a  group  of  twelve  persons, 
ten  of  whom  were  men,  six  bearing  the  familiar 
name  of  Bronson.  They  made  a  noble  statement 
of  the  main  object  for  which  they  entered  into 
this  sacred-union,  and  adopted  articles  of  faith  and 
a  covenant.  In  five  or  six  weeks  twenty-four  more 
were  received,  the  proportion  of  the  sexes  now 
being  twenty-three  women  to  thirteen  men.  The 
men  only  had  voted  in  organizing,  after  the  man- 
ner of  the  times;  and  this  was  the  order  of  pro- 
cedure in  selecting  a  pastor:  First,  the  society 
held  its  meeting,  inviting  him  to  become  pastor, 
with  the  promise  of  a  salary  of  $400  a  year,  so  long 
as  he  should  sustain  this  relation  to  them,  and  in 
addition  a  "  settlement "  of  $350,  to  be  paid  in  the 
course  of  the  first  year.  After  this  a  meeting  of 
the  church  was  convened,  and  the  church  united  in 
the  call,  and  sanctioned  the  provision  for  the  min- 
ister's support.  Deacons  having  been  chosen,  your 
daughter  and  fellow  worker  was  now  fully  equip- 
ped. Situated  on  your  west,  right  by  your  side, 
her  labors  and  yours  have  been  intermingled,  and 
each  has  had  its  influence  upon  the  welfare  of  the 
other,  from  that  day  to  this. 

Was  it  a  puny  child,  born  ninety-five  years  ago, 
out  on  those  lovely  hills  ?  You  shall  judge  for 
yourselves.  A  fortnight  since,  I  had  the  sad  privi- 
lege of  receiving  at  our  cemetery,  for  burial,  the 
earthly  remains  of  one  of  our  aged  members,  who 
had  spent  the  last  four  or  five  years  of  her  life 
with  friends  in  your  town.  This  burial  led  me  to 


THE  CHURCH  IN  MIDDLEBURY. 


155 


turn  to  our  church  manual  "for  facts  concerning 
her  connection  with  our  church.  I  found  that  in 
1832  she  had  stood  up,  with  thirteen  others,  to  pro- 
fess her  attachment  to  Christ.  Her  pastor  was  the 
Rev.  Jason  Atwater.  Then  I  noticed  that  in  that 
year  forty-three  were  received  into  the  church.  I 
found  that  in  a  ministry,  there,  of  fifteen  years, 
Mr.  Atwater  was  privileged  to  receive  one  hundred 
and  eighty-seven  persons.  Of  these,  thirty-three 
only  came  by  letter  from  other  churches,  and  one 
hundred  and  fifty-four  were  received  on  profession. 
Was  not  that  a  very  fruitful  ministry  in  so  small  a 
town  ?  The  Rev.  Mark  Mead  preceded  him.  Dur- 
ing Mr.  Mead's  pastorate  of  twenty  years,  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-four  joined  the  church  by  profes- 
sion, and  twenty-five  by  letter.  Before  him  the 
Rev.  Ira  Hunt,  the  first  minister,  gathered  into  the 
fold  eighty-six  in  all,  sixty-nine  being  by  profes- 
sion. 

These  first  three  pastorates  covered  a  period  of 
forty-nine  years.  In  this  first  half  of  its  existence, 
the  church  received  422  members,  and  in  its  entire 
history,  of  ninety-five  years,  it  has  received  the 
goodly  number  of  726.  What  is  especially  to  be 
noticed  is,  that  only  166  of  these,  or  less  than  one 
in  five,  came  from  other  churches.  The  church  has 
been  God's  instrument  in  bringing  over  from  the 
world  to  the  ranks  of  Christ's  followers  560  precious 
souls,  many  of  them  to  become  efficient  workers 
for  him.  Had  we  been  a  large  manufacturing  cen- 
tre, a  tide  of  immigration  would  have  set  towards 
us,  bringing  with  it  many  Christians,  to  strengthen 
us.  But  we  are  a  farming  community  and  a  scat- 
tered people,  having  no  factories.  Hence  our 


156        THE  MOTHER  AND   THE  DAUGHTERS. 

growth,  as  a  church,  has  been  very  largely  from 
within.  In  view  of  these  numerous  additions  by 
profession,  year  after  year,  may  I  not  present  this 
off-shoot  from  you  as  a  vigorous,  fruitful  vine, 
especially  in  the  earlier  portions  of  its  history  ? 

But  there  is  another  view  in  which  the  fruitful- 
ness  of  the  Middlebury  church  most  strikingly 
appears.  I  refer  to  the  large  number  who  have 
gone  out  from  its  membership  to  help  in  other 
fields,  to  plant  other  churches  or  strengthen  those 
already  existing,  to  be  officers  and  standard  bear- 
ers in  those  churches,  to  become  Christian  fathers 
and  mothers,  training  up  families  in  the  principles 
in  which  they  had  been  indoctrinated  in  their 
youth.  I  have  said  that  the  church  received  in  the 
first  half  of  its  existence  422  members.  In  our 
manual  I  find  an  asterisk  placed  against  the 
names  of  241  of  these,  to  indicate  that  they  had 
removed  to  other  communities.  Observe  that  211 
would  be  one-half  of  the  whole  number,  but  there 
were  241  whom  the  church  sent  forth  as  mission- 
aries, as  it  were,  to  those  without.  For  the  most 
part  letters  to  other  churches  were  given  them, 
one  and  two  at  a  time.  But  when  the  church  was 
called  upon  to  spare  a  considerable  number  at 
once,  to  help  the  settlements  in  New  Connecticut 
(Ohio),  it  was  hard  to  part  with  so  many  energetic 
citizens  who  were  helpers  at  home.  Blood  is  some- 
times drawn  from  the  veins  of  a  healthy  person, 
and  injected  into  those  of  an  invalid.  All  through 
its  life  your  daughter  has  been  giving lier  life  blood 
to  others. 

Look  at  the  help  she  has  returned  to  you,  her 
mother,  and  your  community.    Was  not  Edward  L. 


THE  CHURCH  ZZV  MIDDLEBUR7.  157 

Bronson  (your  deacon  for  many  years)  a  brother 
very  highly  esteemed  ?  We  noticed  those  words, 
so  tender  and  appreciative,  which  your  pastor 
uttered  at  his  recent  funeral.  His  father,  our 
Deacon  Leonard  Bronson,  we  loaned  to  you  for 
some  fifteen  years.  Then  he  gladly  came  back,  to 
end  his  days  with  us.  Did  not  our  Silas  Bronson 
give  you  the  library  which  bears  his  name  ?  and  is 
he  not  through  it  blessing  all  your  community  ? 
He  had  resolved  to  make  the  donation  to  his  native 
place,  and  to  erect  for  it  a  handsome  building;  but 
one  stepped  in  and  advised  that  it  should  go  to 
the  more  growing  town  of  Waterbury.  Except  for 
that  suggestion  it  would  have  graced  and  blessed 
our  town.  It  was  Middlebury  that  sent  you  Gideon 
L.  Platt,  recognized  so  long  as  standing  in  the  front 
rank  of  your  physicians.  We  gave  you  George  L. 
Townsend,  to  help  edit  the  "  Waterbury  American," 
and  Aaron  Benedict,  to  help  build  up  your  great 
brass  industry,  as  well  as  to  hold  an  honorable 
office  in  this  church.  I  point  you  to  the  biogra- 
phies of  various  other  men  of  note  mentioned  in 
the  "  History  of  Waterbury,"  who  went  from  Mid- 
dlebury to  other  places,  far  and  wide,  and  made 
their  mark  for  good.  And  the  many  inspiring 
lives  begun  on  those  quiet  hillsides  and  trained  in 
those  homely  farmhouses  ought  to  make  us  feel 
that  it  is  worth  while  to  work  for  our  hill  towns. 
We  must  keep  the  springs  among  the  hills  pure, 
for  the  streams  which  issue  from  them  are  sure  to 
flow  down  into  the  valleys,  where  our  great  manu- 
facturing centres  are.  Often  the  gift  of  one  per- 
son going  forth  from  an  obscure  home  proves  a 
rich  boon  to  a  large  town,  or  even  to  a  whole  state. 


158        THE  MOTHER  AND    THE  DAUGHTERS. 

The  small  towns  of  Connecticut  are  full  of  splen- 
did illustrations  of  this. 

Do  I  seem  to  have  spoken  with  too  much  eulogy 
of  my  own  little  church  ?  What  I  have  said  was 
more  especially  true  of  it  a  generation  ago,  when 
it  was  most  vigorous.  Then,  at  least,  the  old  gospel 
so  manifestly  proved  itself  the  power  of  God  unto 
salvation,  that  we,  at  the  present  day,  may  still 
learn  much  from  the  methods  of  our  fathers.  But 
they  were  far  from  perfect.  Human  nature,  fifty 
or  seventy-five  years  ago,  was  essentially  what  it  is 
to-day.  I  find  in  the  records  of  this  church  fre- 
quent mention  of  grievances  and  of  meetings  called 
to  inquire  into  alleged  faults.  But  the  promptness 
with  which  action  was  taken  was  remarkable. 
Ordinarily  time  and  place  for  a  hearing  were 
appointed  within  two  or  three  weeks  of  the  com- 
plaint, and  the  decision  was  reached  without 
tedious  delay.  Often  too  the  result  was  humble  con- 
fession of  wrong  and  restoration  to  full  confidence 
again. 

In  reaching  out  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  in  mis- 
sionary work  we  are  much  in  advance  of  the  fathers. 
From  the  first,  contributions  were  taken  regu- 
larly for  home  uses.  But  it  was  about  twenty-three 
years  before  the  duty  of  joining  in  the  great  mod- 
ern missionary  movement  was  earnestly  discussed. 
Then  came  gifts  first  to  educate  pious  young  men, 
to  aid  Andover  Seminary  and  Yale  College. 

During  these  early  years  much  was  made  of 
catechising  the  children.  Saturday  evenings  were 
very  generally  devoted  to  this  work.  At  one  time 
a  committee  of  five  men  was  appointed  to  help  for- 
ward this  instruction  of  the  children.  As  early  as 


THE  CHURCH  IN  MIDDLEBURY. 


159 


1818  a  turn  was  made  to  regular  Sabbath  school 
work. 

And  now,  in  closing,  conies  a  most  important 
question:  Has  this  vine,  planted  on  yonder  hills, 
vitality  still  ?  Will  it  yet  bear  precious  fruit  ?  You 
as  well  as  we  are  interested  in  the  answer.  Our 
young  people  will  still  drift  toward  you.  All  along 
our  eastern  border  are  families  dependent  for 
work  on  your  shops.  We  have  equipment  for 
Christian  work  in  an  excellent  house  of  worship 
and  a  parsonage,  a  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor, 
a  Sabbath  school  work  branching  out  in  three  direc- 
tions, with  a  library  freshly  enlarged.  We  support 
our  own  preaching,  and  give  a  third  as  much  more 
to  others.  We  need  not  pecuniary  help  so  much  as 
the  far  richer  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  that  we  may 
more  zealously  cultivate  the  important  field  of 
labor  which  lies  within  our  reach. 

Our  fathers  planted  this  church  amid  far  greater 
pecuniary  difficulties  than  ours.  I  hold  in  my  hand 
a  curious  looking  document,  bearing  the  date  of 
1786.  It  is  the  subscription  paper  for  building  our 
first  Middlebury  church.  Forty-one  names  are 
attached,  and  the  approximate  value  of  gifts  is 
expressed  in  pounds,  shillings  and  pence.  Like 
the  Israelites  in  erecting  the  tabernacle,  they  gave 
what  they  had.  Of  money  I  find  only  sixteen  shil- 
lings. But  seven  of  them  brought  nails,  which 
quite  likely  they  had  hammered  out,  eleven  brought 
shingles,  ten  gave  oak  boards,  three  gave  white- 
wood  clapboards,  eleven  gave  provisions  at  market 
prices,  and  twenty-five  gave  labor.  With  this  ex- 
ample of  sacrifice  before  us,  we  ought  to  go  on 
supporting  ourselves  and  helping  others.  Sacrifices 


160        THE  MOTHER  AND    THE  DAUGHTERS. 

for  the  gospel's  sake  make  its  messages  precious, 
and  bring  with  them  rich  gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Oh!  those  twelve  years  of  ingathering,  which  this 
Middlebury  church  has  enjoyed,  enlarging  it  as 
much  as  all  the  other  eighty-three  years!  If  the 
review  of  the  history  of  these  churches,  to-day, 
shall  lead  us  all,  with  one  voice,  to  exclaim,  "  Come, 
from  the  four  winds,  O  breath,  and  breathe  upon 
us,"  it  will  indeed  be  well.  The  best  life  of  the 
fathers  will  then  enter  into  our  lives,  and  through 
us  bear  fruit  forever. 


THE  CHURCH   IN  PROSPECT. 

BY    THE    REV.    W.    H.    PHIPPS. 

The  church  in  Prospect — a  daughter  ninety-three 
years  old,  although  next  to  the  youngest  of  the 
daughters — brings  her  greetings  to-day  to  the  aged 
mother. 

This  daughter  is  somewhat  enfeebled,  and  has  for 
many  years  been  walking  by  the  aid  of  crutches 
furnished  by  the  sister  churches  of  the  state.  Her 
feebleness,  however,  is  not  because  of  her  age,  but 
results  from  the  fact  that  she  does  so  much  for  the 
support  of  her  aged  mother  and  all  her  relatives  in 
the  cities;  so  that  it  will  not  be  advisable  to  cover 
her  with  an  extinguisher  just  yet,  on  the  principle 
of  the  survival  of  the  strongest  and  the  destruction 
of  the  weakest.  During  the  fourteen  years  of  my 
pastorate,  twenty-four  have  been  dismissed  from 
the  Prospect  church  to  join  other  churches,  and 
there  are  several  others  who  have  recently  gone  to 
the  cities,  but  have  not  transferred  their  church 
relationship.  Yet  our  church  numbers  more  com- 


THE  CHURCH  IN  PROSPECT.  161 

municants  to-day  than  it  did  fourteen  years  ago. 
At  the  same  time,  we  think  of  one  of  the  wealthiest 
men  of  Naugatuck  as  having  been  born  in  Prospect, 
and  we  can  point  to  deacons  and  superintendents 
of  Sabbath  schools  in  churches  in  New  Haven  and 
Wallingford  who  were  brought  up  here  and  went 
from  us  to  their  present  fields  of  labor. 

When  the  Congregational  society  was  formed  in 
Prospect  (then  Columbia)  a  survey  was  made  to 
establish  the  society  limits,  that  all  included  within 
such  limits  might  be  subject  to  taxation  for  the 
support  of  the  society.  The  original  map  and  the 
record  of  the  survey  are  still  preserved, — although 
the  trees  which  are  mentioned  as  marking  the 
boundary  lines  have  disappeared.  This  survey 
contained  9,291  acres,  of  which  3,239  lay  in  the  town 
of  Waterbury  and  6,051  in  the  town  of  Cheshire. 
Of  the  Waterbury  section,  2,384  acres  lay  in  that 
part  of  the  town  known  as  Salem  society.  The  ter- 
ritory described  included  substantially  the  tract  of 
land  which  now  constitutes  the  town  of  Prospect. 

Columbia  (as  it  was  originally  called)  was  for  a 
period  of  time  a  nourishing  place,  supporting  man- 
ufactures of  some  importance.  But  it  has  gradually 
diminished,  and  now  there  are  more  old  cellars 
marking  the  places  where  houses  formerly  stood 
than  there  are  houses  in  the  town. 

The  church  was  organized  on  the  i4th  of  May, 
1798,  with  sixteen  members.  All  but  two  of  these 
had  Bible  names,  such  as  Abraham,  Ephraim, 
Asahel,  Damaris,  Jerusha  and  Mehitabel.  Evidently 
the  people  of  "  Columbia  "  "went  by  the  Bible  "  in 
those  days, — differing  materially  from  a  certain  old 
tar  who  said  to  a  friend  that  was  trying  to  direct 
his  mind  to  the  gospel,  "  We  don't  know  nothing 


1 62        THE  MOTHER  AND   THE  DAUGHTERS. 

about  the  Bible  here;  we  go  by  the  almanac."  I 
suppose  they  thought  they  went  by  the  Bible  also 
when  in  their  "  rules  of  practice "  they  forbade 
"  card-playing,  frolicking  and  horse-racing." 

The  first  pastor  was  Oliver  Hitchcock.  He 
remained  with  the  church  thirteen  years,  his  pas- 
torate being  the  longest  of  any  except  my  own. 
From  the  Rev.  Franklin  Countryman's  historical 
address  *  we  learn  that  Mr.  Hitchcock  was  "  a  good 
farmer,  and  proficient  in  laying  stone  walls."  Cer- 
tainly he  had  plenty  of  stone  to  practice  with,  and 
there  are  about  twelve  acres  of  land  connected 
with  the  parsonage  where  I  suppose  he  demon- 
strated his  ability  as  a  farmer.  The  records  show 
that  he  was  also  proficient  in  building  hearts 
which  had  been  hearts  of  stone  into  the  walls  of  the 
church  of  Christ. 

The  church  prospered,  and  increased  in  mem- 
bership, until  1832,  when  the  Rev.  J.  D.  Chapman 
became  pastor.  Mr.  Chapman  embraced  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Perfectionists  (afterwards  known  as 
the  "  Oneida  community  " )  and  led  away  with  him 
many  of  the  prominent  members  of  the  church. 
When  afterward  all  who  entertained  these  beliefs 
were  excommunicated,  it  involved  the  cutting  off 
of  a  great  portion  of  the  working  church. 

The  number  of  members  at  the  present  time  is 
ninety-eight.  The  Prospect  church  has  no  reason 
to  regret  that  she  was  ever  born,  for  her  life  has 
been  fruitful  of  good.  She  is  feeble,  and  may  be 
dying,  but  she  is  giving  her  life  to  others. 

*  Delivered  by  the  Rev.  Franklin  Countryman,  then  pastor  of  the  church  in 
Prospect,  at  the  time  of  the  nation's  centennial.  It  was  published  in  the  Water- 
bury  American  of  July  igth,  1876,  in  which  it  fills  nearly  three  columns. — EDITOK. 


THE  CHURCH  IN  THOM ASTON.  163 


THE  CHURCH  IN  THOMASTON. 

BY    THE    REV.    R.    G.    BUGBEE. 

These  exercises  naturally  turn  our  thoughts  to 
the  past,  and  remind  me  of  the  old  adage  which  I 
used  to  hear  when  I  was  a  boy — that  ''children 
should  be  seen  and  not  heard."  The  saying  is  in 
many  places  obsolescent,  or  else  is  transformed  in- 
to its  opposite  :  "  Children  should  be  heard  and 
not  seen."  But  in  this  large  family  gathering  of 
churches,  where  there  are  some  of  the  old  stock  of 
sister  churches  to  be  heard  from  and  several  also  of 
the  elder  daughters  with  an  interesting  history,  the 
saying  ought  to  be  enforced;  the  granddaughters 
and  great-granddaughters  should  be  seen  and  not 
heard.  Therefore  I  bring  very  briefly  the  greeting 
of  the  First  Congregational  church  in  Thomaston 
to  our  venerable  and  honored  grandmother,  the 
First  church  in  Waterbury.  We  felicitate  you, 
that  you  have  reached  your  two  hundredth  anni- 
versary in  so  ruddy  a  state  of  health,  with  steadily 
increasing  vitality  and  an  ever  widening  influence. 
We  also  bring  Christian  greeting-  to  the  other 
churches  of  this  family;  and  it  seems  like  a  genu- 
ine old  fashioned  New  England  Thanksgiving  to 
meet  so  many  relatives  and  so  many  generations 
under  one  roof.  And  as  grand-parents  always  have 
an  interest  in  their  posterity,  we  stand  up  with 
childish  simplicity  and  tell  briefly  our  age  and  a 
few  other  facts. 

We  shall  be  fifty-four  years  old  next  December. 
The  church  was  formed  from  the  church  in  Ply- 


1 64        THE  MOTHER   AND   THE  DAUGHTERS. 

mouth,  December  yth,  1837.  It  was  organized  with 
thirty-seven  members,  only  two  of  whom,  I  think, 
remain  upon  our  roll  to-day.  One  of  them,  Tertius 
D.  Potter,  who  has  served  the  church  in  several  offi- 
cial positions,  is  now  ninety-eight  years  old.*  Our 
present  membership  numbers  307,  while  there  have 
been  more  than  900  different  persons  enrolled  in 
our  list  of  members  during  our  church  life.  Ger- 
mans, Swedes,  English,  Scotch  and  French  have 
found  fellowship  with  our  American-born  members. 
Looking  hastily  over  the  records  I  find  that  the 
church  has  had  in  fifty-four  years  nine  pastors  and 
acting  pastors;  so  you  see  that  it  has  endeavored 
to  keep  abreast  of  most  of  our  modern  Congrega- 
tional churches  in  one  respect  at  least — in  not 
clinging  to  a  minister  till  he  is  too  old  to  move  out 
of  town. 

We  feel  honored  in  belonging  to  this  family  of 
churches.  We  take  pride  in  the  fact  that  we  are  a 
branch  of  the  trunk  which  sprang  from  the  mus- 
tard seed  planted  in  Waterbury  two  hundred  years 
ago.  What  a  grand  family  of  churches  it  is!  Its 
branches  reach  out  into  many  parts  of  the  sur- 
rounding country;  and  perhaps  there  are  churches 
in  distant  places,  unknown  to  us  to-day,  which 
really  sprang  from  the  fruit  of  this  tree  wafted  by 
providential  forces  to  far  away  states.  In  that 
case,  some  of  our  branches  reach  out  thousands 
of  miles,  interlocking  with  branches  from  other 
church  families,  as  the  limbs  of  a  dense  forest 
intertwine  and  embrace  each  other. 

*  Tertius  D.  Potter,  has  passed  away  since  the  bi-centennial  celebration  took 
place.  He  was  a  deacon  in  the  church  in  Plymouth  prior  to  1834,  and  in  the 
church  at  Thomaston  after  that  was  organized.  He  was  born  September  25th, 
1793,  and  died  January  loth,  1892,  in  the  ninety-ninth  year  of  his  age. — EDITOR. 


THE  CHURCH  AT  TERRTVILLE.  165 

And  what  harvests  of  precious  fruit — immortal 
souls — have  already  been  garnered  from  this  church 
tree!  As  we  think  of  the  thousands  who  have  been 
entered  upon  our  church  rolls,  but  have  now  passed 
away  in  faith,  we  are  reminded  of  the  inspired 
word,  "  Therefore  let  us  also,  seeing  we  are  com- 
passed about  with  so  great  a  cloud  of  witnesses, 
lay  aside  every  weight  and  the  sin  which  doth  so 
easily  beset  us,  and  let  us  run  with  patience  the 
race  that  is  set  before  us,  looking  unto  Jesus  the 
author  and  perfecter  of  our  faith."  We  have  in 
this  family  of  churches  a  living  illustration  of  that 
divine  saying,  "The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like 
unto  a  grain  of  mustard  seed  which  a  man  took  and 
sowed  in  his  field;  which  indeed  is  less  than  all 
seeds;  but  when  it  is  grown  it  is  greater  than  the 
herbs  and  becometh  a  tree;  so  that  the  birds  of 
heaven  come  and  lodge  in  the  branches  thereof." 
What  better  commentary  on  this  Scripture  than 
the  mustard  seed  of  two  hundred  years  ago  com- 
pared with  the  massive  trunk,  the  strong  branches 
and  the  immortal  fruit  of  our  church  family  tree 
to-day? 


THE  CHURCH  AT  TERRYVILLE. 

BY    J.    A. 

When  the  men  of  "  Northbury, "  after  a  long 
struggle,  succeeded  in  fixing  the  place  of  their 
meeting  house  on  Plymouth  hill,  they  felt,  no 
doubt,  that  the  cause  of  justice  had  triumphed,  and 
little  suspected  that  the  site  they  had  secured 
would  in  after  years  be  inconveniently  distant 


1 66        THE  MOTHER  AND   THE  DAUGHTERS. 

from  the  chief  centres  of  population  within  their 
society  limits.  In  the  course  of  time  these  chief 
centres  became  established  at  Plymouth  Hollow 
(now  Thomaston)  on  the  one  side,  and  Terryville 
on  the  other;  and  when  the  Congregationalists  in 
these  places  became  sufficiently  numerous  they  felt 
that  they  must  have  churches  of  their  own.  This 
conclusion  was  reached,  and  decisive  action  taken, 
at  about  the  same  time  in  both  cases.  The  church 
in  Plymouth  Hollow  was  organized  on  the  yth  of 
December,  1837,  and  the  church  in  Terryville  on 
the  2nd  of  January,  1838.  The  mother  church  "on 
the  hill "  parted  with  fifty-one  of  its  members  in 
the  one  case  and  forty-nine  in  the  other, — thus 
losing  one  hundred  members  by  colonization 
within  less  than  a  single  month.  As  all  the  original 
members  of  both  the  new  churches  came  from  the 
Plymouth  church,  their  relation  to  the  ancient 
church  of  Waterbury  by  lineal  descent  is  obvious. 
The  first  pastor  of  the  Terryville  church  was  the 
Rev.  Nathaniel  Richardson,  who  was  settled  in 
August,  1838.  The  new  church  edifice  was  dedi- 
cated, and  the  pastor  ordained  and  installed,  at  the 
same  time,  August  8th.  His  pastorate  terminated 
within  two  years  (July  26.,  1840),  and  more  than  a 
year  afterward  (that  is,  in  October,  1841)  he  was 
followed  by  the  Rev.  Merrill  Richardson,  who  was 
pastor  of  the  church  at  two  different  times.  He  was 
dismissed  in  July,  1846,  and  settled  again,  May  i6th, 
1849, — the  pastorate  of  the  Rev.  Judson  A.  Root 
coming  between,  and,  owing  to  the  failure  of  his 
health,  lasting  only  six  months  (from  October,  1846, 
to  April,  1847).  Mr.  Richardson  remained  with  the 
church  until  January  i8th,  1858,  when  he  was  dis- 


THE  CIIURCH  AT  TERRYVILLE.  167 

missed  to  a  pastorate  in  Y/orcester,  Mass.  Mr. 
John  Monteith,  jr.,  was  ordained  and  installed, 
October  27th,  1858,  and  continued  until  July  3ist, 
1860.  The  Rev.  Franklin  A.  Spencer  was  installed, 
June  24th,  1863, — the  pulpit  having  been  supplied 
in  the  meantime  by  the  Rev.  A.  Hastings  Ross,  the 
Rev.  Edwin  Dimock  (for  eighteen  months)  and 
others.  In  1865,  the  Rev.  Ephraim  M.  Wright 
became  "  acting  pastor,"  and  served  the  church 
until  1869.  Mr.  Henry  B.  Mead  was  ordained  and 
installed,  June  yth,  1871,  and  dismissed,  May  i2th, 
1874.  He  was  followed,  in  October,  by  the  Rev. 
Leverett  S.  Griggs,  whose  father,  the  Rev.  Leverett 
Griggs,  D.  D.,  had  been  pastor  in  the  adjoining 
parish  of  Bristol  from  1856  to  1869,  and  was  still 
residing  there.  Although  Mr.  Griggs  was  not 
installed,  his  pastorate  continued  until  October, 
1887,  being  the  longest  thus  far  enjoyed  by  the 
Terryville  church.  The  Rev.  W.  F.  Arms  became 
pastor  in  March,  1888,  and  continues  to  the  present 
time. 

As  we  have  seen,  the  church  at  its  organization 
numbered  forty-nine  members.  Twenty  years  later, 
at  the  close  of  the  Rev.  Merrill  Richardson's  pas- 
torate (that  is,  in  January,  1858),  the  number  on  the 
roll  was  149,  of  whom  108  were  resident  members. 
In  the  spring  of  that  year  sixty-four  were  added  on 
profession  of  faith — fruits  of  the  revival  of  religion 
which  had  taken  place  throughout  the  country. 
Again,  in  1864,  there  was  a  large  addition  (thirty- 
four),  and  since  that  time  the  church  has  gradually 
and  steadily  increased  in  numbers  and  in  strength 

In  1866,  the  church  reported  seventeen  of  its 
members  as  having  fought  in  the  war  for  the 


1 68        THE  MOTHER  AND   THE  DAUGHTERS. 

Union,  four  of  whom  had  died  in  the  service.  In 
1878,  the  church  edifice  was  altered  and  repaired, 
and  on  the  6th  of  November  was  rededicated.  An 
organ  was  placed  in  it,  at  a  cost  of  eight  thousand 
dollars,  the  money  being  raised  by  the  Sunday 
school.  At  different  times  in  its  history,  the 
church  has  sustained  a  mission  Sunday  school  in 
addition  to  the  school  at  the  centre,  and  in  various 
other  ways  has  manifested  its  interest  in  the  exten- 
sion of  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  It  has  also  "raised 
up "  four  ministers  of  the  gospel,  one  of  whom, 
Edwin  Johnson,  was  educated  at  the  expense  of  the 
church.  He  was  born  December  ist,  1826,  gradua- 
ted at  Yale  college  in  1846,  and  ordained  in  1851. 
In  1867  he  became  the  first  pastor  of  the  First  Con- 
gregational church  in  Baltimore,  Md.,  was  pastor 
of  the  South  Congregational  church  in  Bridgeport 
from  1870  to  1876,  and  died  December  25th,  1883. 
The  others  are  the  Rev.  Horace  R.  Williams,  who 
is  pastor  of  the  Congregational  church  in  Clinton, 
Mich.;  his  brother,  the  Rev.  Moseley  H.  Williams, 
who  was  for  some  years  a  secretary  of  the  Ameri- 
can Sunday  School  Union,  and  is  now  a  member  of 
the  editorial  staff  of  the  "Sunday  School  Times;" 
and  the  Rev.  Linus  Blakesley,  pastor  (since  1870) 
of  the  First  Congregational  church  in  Topeka, 
Kansas. 

Three  years  after  the  organization  of  the  church, 
Eli  Terry,  senior,  erected  a  large  and  commodious 
dwelling  house,  and  presented  it  to  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal society  to  be  used  as  a  parsonage.  This  was  in 
August,  1841.  He  also  made  and  presented  to  the 
society  a  wooden  clock  for  the  tower  of  the  church, 
which  is  still  in  good  condition. 


THE  EAGLE  ROCK  CHURCH,  THOM ASTON.      169 

The  church,  although  a  child  of  the  Plymouth 
church,  was  not,  like  that,  consociated.  In  1870, 
when  the  Hartford  Central  (afterward  the  Farm- 
ington  Valley)  conference  of  churches  was  organ- 
ized, it  connected  itself  with  that  body.  On  the 
organization  of  the  Naugatuck  Valley  conference, 
February  22nd,  1883,  it  transferred  its  connection 
to  that,  and  continued  in  fellowship  therewith  until 
June,  1891. 


THE  EAGLE  ROCK  CHURCH,  THOMASTON. 

BY    J.    A. 

The  Eagle  Rock  church  was  organized  in  1879,  to 
meet  the  wants  of  a  small  manufacturing  commu- 
nity situated  near  Reynolds  Bridge,  in  the  town  of 
Thomaston.  The  Rev.  E.  B.  Sanford,  then  of 
Thomaston,  began  a  work  of  visitation  and  preach- 
ing in  the  place  in  May,  1878.  A  chapel  was  built, 
and  on  the  2gih  of  October,  1879,  a  church  of  twen- 
ty-six members  was  organized,  ten  of  whom  were 
received  on  profession  of  faith,  the  rest  from  other 
churches,  most  of  them  from  the  Congregational 
church  in  Thomaston.  About  fifty  families  were 
included  in  the  parish. 

Mr.  Sanford  served  the  church  as  pastor  until 
September,  1882.  In  the  following  May  he  was 
succeeded  by  Mr.  F.  J.  Pohl,  of  the  Yale  Theologi- 
cal Seminary,  who  was  ordained  there  on  the  i2th 
of  September,  and  who  served  the  church  for  about 
a  year.  In  November,  1885,  he  was  succeeded  by 
Mr.  Ursinus  O.  Mohr,  also  of  the  Yale  Seminary, 
who  labored  in  this  field  during  1886,  and  was 

8 


1 7o        THE  MOTHER  AND   IRE  DAUGHTERS. 

ordained  there  on  the  25th  of  February,  1887,  then 
having  the  foreign  missionary  work  in  view.  His 
successor  was  the  Rev.  Joseph  S.  Burgess,  whose 
brief  term  of  service  began  in  August,  1887,  and 
who  died  at  Reynolds  Bridge  on  the  2  8th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1888.  Mr.  Burgess  was  born  on  the  i5th  of 
August,  1815,  and  spent  most  of  his  life  as  a  minis- 
ter among  the  Free  Baptist  churches  of  Maine.  He 
was  a  pastor  at  Lewiston  for  nearly  twenty  years ; 
was  a  trustee  of  Bates  College,  and  for  a  time  cor- 
responding secretary  of  the  Home  Missionary  soci- 
ety of  the  Free  Baptist  churches.  Late  in  life  he 
became  a  resident  in  Waterbury,  and,  with  his  fam- 
ily, largely  identified  with  the  First  church.  After 
entering  upon  the  pastorate  of  the  Eagle  Rock 
church,  he  connected  himself  with  the  Naugatuck 
Valley  Association  of  Congregational  ministers. 
He  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  Dighton  Moses,  who 
began  his  ministry  at  Reynolds  Bridge  on  the  ist 
of  September,  1888,  and  continued  it  until  April, 
1890.  Since  that  time  the  church  has  been  without 
a  pastor.  Its  present  membership  numbers  about 
fifty. 

Throughout  its  history,  it  has  been  subject  to  the 
vicissitudes  incident  to  life  in  a  somewhat  isolated 
and  changeful  manufacturing  community  com- 
posed largely  of  foreigners,  and  has  been  depend- 
ent on  the  aid  of  the  church  in  Thomaston,  and  the 
Connecticut  Missionary  society. 


IV. 


EARLY   AND   LATER   PASTORS. 


JEREMIAH  PECK.  173 

JEREMIAH  PECK. 

BY    MISS   SARAH    J.    PRICHARD. 

The  Rev.  Jeremiah  Peck  has  for  so  many  years 
been  considered  the  first  minister  of  Waterbury 
that  the  mere  mention  of  a  predecessor  carries 
with  it  a  certain  sense  of  disloyalty  to  that  gentle- 
man. But  our  town  records  bear  indications  that 
may  not  be  disregarded  that  a  clergyman  min- 
istered to  the  spiritual  needs  of  this  wilderness 
people,  and  dwelt  in  "  the  house  built  for  the  min- 
ister," before  the  year  1689. 

In  the  land  divisions  of  1688  we  find  a  name 
unknown  hitherto  in  the  town.  Twenty-nine  acres 
of  meadow  land  up  the  west  branch  of  the  Nauga- 
tuck  river,  at  and  near  Reynolds  Bridge,  were 
allotted  to  four  proprietors  by  name,  the  first  men- 
tioned of  whom  is  Mr.  Frayser.  The  appellation 
"  Mr."  in  itself  is  significant,  as  it  stands  alone  on 
our  records  until  the  coming  of  Mr.  Peck.  This 
land  was  to  be  divided  by  its  four  owners  accord- 
ing to  their  proprietary  rights.  A  careful  follow- 
ing of  its  division  among  the  three  men  whose  pro- 
prietary rights  are  known  reveals  the  fact  that  the 
number  of  acres  left  for  Mr.  Frayser  was  more 
than  that  of  any  one  of  the  landed  proprietors  and 
equaled  that  of  a  one  hundred  and  fifty  pound  pro- 
priety, belonging  only  to  one  of  the  three  great  lots 
reserved  at  the  beginning  by  the  General  Court's 
committee  "  for  public  and  pious  uses."  At  a  later 
date  the  same  land  is  found  in  the  possession  of 
the  children  of  the  Rev.  Jeremiah  Peck,  who  record 


174 


EARLY  AND  LATER  PASTORS. 


that  it  was  their  honored  father's  land.  Now,  how 
that  land,  once  granted  to  Mr.  Frayser,  became  Mr. 
Peck's  requires  solution. 

On  North  Main  street  there  still  stands  an 
ancient  house,  the  dwelling  place  of  the  late 
Charles  D.  Kingsbury.  Historical  secrets  were 
stored  away  beneath  its  roof,  that  even  the  owner 
knew  not  of,  which  by  the  extreme  courtesy  of  his 
son,  Mr.  Frederick  J.  Kingsbury,  have  been  made 
available  for  historical  purposes. 

In  the  beginning,  the  records  of  the  town  were 
kept  on  sheets  of  paper.  If  one  sheet  of  paper 
could  not  contain  all  the  words  of  a  document, 
another  sheet  was  sewed  to  it.  The  original  arti- 
cles of  agreement  for  the  settlement  of  Waterbury 
found  in  the  Kingsbury  house  are  twice  sewed. 
After  a  time  certain  of  these  documents  were  gath- 
ered together  and  sewed  at  the  edge,  thus  forming 
a  book,  a  portion  of  which  "  proprietors'  book " 
Dr.  Henry  Bronson,  the  esteemed  historian  of 
Waterbury,  found  about  forty  years  ago,  and  it 
remains  with  us  to  this  day.  Certain  other  origi- 
nal documents  which  either  once  formed  a  part  of 
that  book,  or  should  have  been  made  part  of  it, 
were  quietly  stored  away  in  the  house  referred  to, 
biding  their  time,  and  by  one  of  them  we  think  the 
question  we  have  raised  concerning  the  possession 
of  Mr.  Frayser's  land  is  satisfactorily  answered. 
It  is  a  division  of  meadow  lands,  both  up  and 
down  the  river,  is  without  date,  but  the  absence  of 
Mr.  Peck's  name  is  evidence  that  it  was  prior  to 
the  date  of  his  coming.  On  it  the  thirty-one  origi- 
nal proprietors  are  all  represented,  and  when  we 
look  for  the  three  great  lots  we  find  two  under  that 


JEREMIAH  PECK. 


175 


name,  but  the  third  one  is  designated  as  "  the  lot 
bought,"  from  which  it  is  inferred  that  Mr.  Fray- 
ser's  great-lot  rights  were  returned  to  the  town  and 
bestowed  upon  Mr.  Peck.  We  also  find,  in  1687,  in 
a  list  of  twelve  men,  to  each  of  whom  the  General 
Court  of  Connecticut  granted  two  hundred  acres  of 
land,  and  ten  of  whom  we  know  to  have  been  min- 
isters of  the  church  of  Christ,  the  name  "  Mr.  John 
Frayser."  If  we  look  at  the  language  of  the  record 
relating  to  the  bestowal  of  the  minister's  house 
upon  Mr.  Peck,  under  the  light  of  this  revealment, 
we  seem  to  find  in  it  a  meaning  hitherto  unseen; 
for  the  proprietors  gave  to  him  "  the  house  built 
for  the  minister,  with  the  home  lot,  at  his  first 
entrance  there  with  his  family."  Again,  there  is  a 
suggestion,  that  he  may  have  died  in  Waterbury, 
in  the  somewhat  unusual  provision  made  for  the 
occurrence  of  death,  in  the  following  sentence  of 
the  same  record,  relating  to  land  bestowed  upon 
Mr.  Peck.  The  language  is  :  "And,  if  the  providence 
of  God  should  so  dispose  that  he  should  die  before 
the  four  years  be  out,  it  shall  fall  to  his  heirs." 

Beyond  the  above  facts,  we  know  nothing  of  Mr. 
Frayser;  but,  however  events  may  have  been 
obscured  by  time  and  the  loss  of  records,  there 
can  be  no  question  regarding  the  probability  that 
there  was  a  minister  in  Waterbury  before  the  year 
1689.  A  General  Court  that  existed,  first  of  all,  to 
provide  for  the  spiritual  nourishment  of  the  colo- 
nists, and  considered  thirty  families  a  sufficient 
number  to  support  a  minister,  and  only  gave  con- 
sent to  the  existence  of  a  plantation  at  Mattatuck 
upon  the  report  that  the  meadows  hereabout  could 
maintain  thirty  families;  a  General  Court  that 


I76  EARLY  AND  LATER  PASTORS. 

withheld  its  consent  to  township  rights  and  its 
blessing  from  petitioners  therefor  until  the  requi- 
site number  of  households  had  been  gathered,  is 
not  to  be  suspected  of  having  allowed  this  wilder- 
ness child  of  its  adoption  to  remain  eleven  years 
without  a  spiritual  guide.  And  thus  we  give  our 
"  hail "  and  "  farewell "  to  the  unknown  Mr.  Frayser. 

The  Rev.  Jeremiah  Peck  came  to  Waterbury  ripe 
in  years  and  rich  in  experience.  Had  he  kept  a 
diary  from  his  youth  to  age,  and  left  it  as  a  legacy 
to  the  First  church  of  Christ  in  Waterbury,  what  a 
valuable  mine  of  historic  lore  the  old  church  might 
to-day  possess.  We  should  surely  find  in  it  a  boy's 
account  of  the  voyage  of  the  good  ship  "Hector," 
in  the  year  1637,  from  London  to  Boston.  We  should 
know  the  names  on  that  passenger  list  which  has 
never  been  found,  though  carefully  sought;  and  he 
might  have  told  us  whether  the  Rev.  John  Daven- 
port, vicar  of  St.  Stephen's  in  Coleman  street,  Lon- 
don, dared  to  cross  the  ocean  under  his  own  name, 
and  how  New  Haven  looked  when  the  goodly  and 
glorious  company  reached  the  "red  hills,"  after- 
wards called  East  and  West  Rocks,  in  1638.  We 
should  then  know  and  understand  where  and  how 
he  acquired  his  knowledge  of  Hebrew  and  Greek 
and  Latin. 

The  question  of  his  life,  and  how  it  was  spent 
until  he  attained  his  thirty-third  year,  would  be 
made  plain  to  us.  Possibly  we  might  in  that 
interesting  diary  learn  that  his  father  was,  as  has 
been  suggested,  one  of  the  merchants  of  London 
who  owned  shares  in  the  ship  "  Hector,"  and  that 
the  lad  went  back  to  England,  and  there  acquired 
his  store  of  Hebrew  and  Greek  and  Latin,  that  had 


JEREMIAH  PECK. 


177 


made  his  name  sufficiently  famous  to  call  the  owner 
thereof  to  be  the  first  teacher  of  the  colony  school 
at  New  Haven;  and,  all  this  would  harmonize  with 
the  words  regarding  him  to  be  found  in  Stiles's 
Itinerary:  "It  is  said  that  he  came,  a  minister,  out 
of  England."  That  a  man  of  his  force  of  character 
and  acquirements  should  remain  in  a  new  country 
in  utter  obscurity,  so  that  his  name  is  unmentioned 
until  his  thirty-third  year,  when  it  suddenly  shone 
out,  like  a  star  of  considerable  magnitude,  seems 
improbable  and  gives  plausibility  to  the  above 
report  concerning  him. 

On  the  contrary,  Cotton  Mather,  that  oft  sus- 
pected truth-teller,  had  plainly  written  of  Jeremiah 
Peck  that  "he  was  bred  at  Harvard,"  but  no  cata- 
logue of  that  university  gave  a  place  to  him.  Time 
has,  once  more,  verified  Mather,  for  a  few  years  ago 
there  came  to  view  certain  college  stewards' 
account  books,  in  one  of  which  are  found  credits  to 
Jeremiah  Peck,  from  the  year  1653  to  1656.  He 
possibly  was  one  of  the  seventeen  young  men  who 
left  Harvard  without  a  degree,  because  the  time  of 
study  was  prolonged  one  year.  We  might  reconcile 
the  statements  in  Stiles's  Itinerary  and  those  of  the 
college  steward's  account  book,  could  we  find 
authority  for  suggestion,  even,  that  he  was  instruc- 
tor at  Harvard,  and  not  a  student.  At  present,  his 
life  from  the  time  of  his  arrival  with  his  father  in 
New  England  to  his  thirtieth  year  is  absolutely 
unknown. 

How  readily  a  few  lines  in  that  diary  might  have 
explained  all  these  points.  In  it  we  might  also 
find,  not  the  name,  but  we  should  expect  to  find 
some  allusion  to  Miss  Johanna  Kitchell,  of  Guilford, 


178  EARLY  AND  LATEE  PASTORS. 

who  became  his  wife  in  the  same  year  that  he  left 
Harvard.  Her  age  I  have  not  found;  but,  as  her 
father  came  in  1637  on  the  voyage  of  the  "  Hector" 
to  which  we  have  alluded,  it  is  possible  that  their 
life  associations  ran  back  to  that  early  date,  and 
that  the  boy  and  girl  together  kept  the  fast  when 
the  wind  blew  a  gale  and  all  the  passengers  were 
confined  in  the  cabins;  together  joined  in  the  ser- 
vice of  thanksgiving  when  the  wind  went  down, 
and  heard  the  ship  master  and  his  company  when, 
every  night  of  the  two  months'  voyage,  "  they  set 
their  eight  and  twelve  o'clock  watches  with  sing- 
ing a  psalm,  and  a  prayer  that  was  not  read  out  a 
book." 

We  should  have  found  the  story  of  the  four 
years  that  he  spent  in  Guilford  in  preaching  or 
teaching,  and  the  joy  of  his  heart  would  surely 
have  escaped  his  pen,  as  he  wrote  of  his  call  to  the 
high  position  of  master  of  the  colony  school  at 
New  Haven.  This  school  was  opened  in  the 
autumn  of  1660.  Having  had  a  winter's  experience 
with  the  lads  of  that  town,  in  the  May  following 
the  school-master  presented  to  the  General  Court 
of  New  Haven  colony  the  following  petitional 
propositions.  After  two  hundred  years,  they  seem 
as  near  an  introduction  to  the  man  as  we  can 
obtain.  They  evidence  that  Mr.  Peck  had  the  cour- 
age of  his  convictions  and  the  full  capacity  for 
expressing  both  courage  and  convictions.  He  asks 
fifteen  questions.  Most  petitioners  were  content 
with  one  or  two.  He  desires  that  the  master  shall 
be  assisted  with  the  power  and  counsel  of  any  of 
the  honored  magistrates  or  elders;  that  rectorcs 
scholcz  be  appointed  and  established;  that  two  men 


JEREMIAH  PECK.  179 

be  appointed  to  prove  and  send  to  the  master  such 
scholars  as  be  fitted  for  his  tuition;  that  two  men 
be  appointed  to  take  care  of  the  school,  to  repair 
and  supply  necessaries  as  the  case  may  require. 
After  asking  four  things  for  the  school,  he  makes  a 
number  of  personal  requests:  That  the  school  may 
begin  but  at  8  o'clock  all  the  winter  half-year  (7 
o'clock  had  been  the  hour);  that  the  school-master 
have  liberty  to  be  at  neighbors'  meetings  once 
every  week;  liberty  to  use  any  books  that  belong 
to  the  school.  He  solicits  a  week's  vacation  in 
the  year.  He  requests  that  his  person  and  estate 
may  be  rate-free  in  every  town  within  New  Haven 
jurisdiction.  He  also  desires  that  a  settled  habita- 
tion be  granted  to  him,  not  at  his  own  charge.  He 
petitions  for  liberty  to  receive  and  instruct  in  the 
school,  scholars  sent  from  other  places  outside  the 
colony  of  New  Haven,  and  the  benefit  of  them; 
that  half  the  year's  payments  shall  be  made  and 
accounts  cleared  with  the  master  within  the  com- 
pass of  every  half  year;  that  forty  pounds  per 
annum  be  paid  to  the  school-master  by  the  colony 
treasurer  and  ten  pounds  by  the  New  Haven 
treasurer.  The  next  requests  we  give  in  his  own 
words: 

That  the  major  part  of  the  above  payments  be  made  to  the 
school-master  in  these  particulars:  Thirty  bushels  of  wheat, 
two  barrels  of  pork,  two  barrels  of  beef,  forty  bushels  of  Indian 
corn,  thirty  bushels  of  peas,  two  firkins  of  butter,  one  hundred 
pounds  of  flax,  and  thirty  bushels  of  oats. 

He  likewise  desired  to  learn  what  was  expected  of 
him  beyond  instruction  in  the  languages  and  ora- 
tory. His  final  petition  is  in  the  following  words: 
That  the  honored  Court  be  pleased  to  consider  of  and  settle 
these  things,  this  court  time,  and  to  confirm  the  consequent 


i8o  EAELT  AND  LATER  PASTORS. 

of  them, — the  want  of  which  things,  especially  some  of  them, 
doth  hold  the  master  under  discouragement  and  unsettlement, 
yet  these  things  being  suitably  considered  and  confirmed,  if  it 
please  the  honored  Court  further  to  improve  him  who  at  pres- 
ent is  school-master,  although  unworthy  of  any  such  respect 
and  weak  for  such  a  work,  yet  his  real  intention  is  to  give  up 
himself  to  the  work  of  a  grammar  school,  as  it  shall  please  God 
to  give  opportunity  and  assistance. 

It  is  gratifying  to  be  able  to  state  that  nearly  all 
the  requests  of  the  school-master  were  complied 
with,  and  that  Mr.  Peck  seemed  to  be  very  well 
satisfied.  Nevertheless,  neither  the  colony  school 
nor  the  colony  of  New  Haven  prospered.  Dark 
days  dawned  for  both.  The  school  was  closed  in 
1662,  and  New  Haven  colony  itself,  the  beloved  of 
noble  and  excellent  men,  soon  closed  its  unwilling 
eyes,  to  open  them  again,  most  unwillingly,  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  Connecticut. 

How  eagerly  would  we  scan  the  pages  revealing 
the  life  and  acts  of  our  pastor  during  his  ministry 
at  Saybrook,  follow  his  return  to  Guilford,  and 
learn  from  his  own  pen  exactly  why  he  was  so 
earnestly  opposed  to  the  baptizing  of  children 
whose  parents  were  not  in  church  communion;  fol- 
low him  through  all  the  eventful,  stirring  scenes 
and  days  that  clustered  around  the  last  hours  of 
New  Haven  colony  and  led  that  band  of  her  devo- 
ted children,  of  whom  Jeremiah  Peck  was  one,  to 
go  forth  into  the  wilderness  of  New  Jersey,  to 
found  a  new  town — a  town  in  whose  government 
no  man  might  have  part  until  he  had  acknowledged 
the  government  of  his  God  by  visible  membership 
in  church  union. 

Mr.  Peck  became  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  New- 
ark, the  first  minister  at  Elizabethtown,  the  first 


JEREMIAH  PECK.  181 

settled  minister  at  Greenwich,  Conn.,  and,  eleven 
years  later,  Waterbury's  accredited  first  pastor. 

How  the  pages  would  glow  with  interest  as  we 
read  of  this  man,  much  sought  after  by  the  early 
churches,  as  he  drew  near  to  this  people,  "  dwelling 
in  a  corner  of  the  wilderness,"  and  in  need  alike  of 
meeting  house  and  minister  of  the  pioneer  order, 
as  Mr.  Peck  undoubtedly  was;  for,  as  we  have  seen, 
he  had  an  eye  for  business  and  personal  advantage 
as  well  as  spiritual  insight. 

And  now  we  turn  to  our  own  town  records,  to 
learn  what  we  may  of  his  coming.  There  is  no 
mention  of  his  name  prior  to  the  year  1689. 

The  house  on  North  Main  street,  with  its  histori- 
cal secrets,  has  yielded  up  the  original  minutes  of 
the  meeting  of  March  i8th,  1689,  from  which  we 
learn  that  the  vote  desiring  Mr.  Peck  to  "  settle  in 
the  work  of  the  ministry  "  was  unanimous.  The  pro- 
prietors were  generous.  They  gave  him  uncondi- 
tionally "  the  home  lot  and  house  built  for  the  min- 
ister on  his  first  entrance  there  with  his  family." 
They  gave  him  the  allotments  and  divisions  belong- 
ing to  the  minister's  lot,  so  called,  provided  he 
remain  with  them  four  years.  And,  to  induce  his 
sons,  Jeremiah  and  Caleb,  to  live  in  Waterbury,  in 
the  generosity  of  their  hearts  they  gave  to  them 
one  of  their  three  great  lots,  with  all  its  grants  and 
divisions,  the  only  conditions  being  that  they 
should,  each  of  them,  build  a  house  and  dwell  four 
years  in  the  town.  Mr.  Peck  accepted  the  invita- 
tion. 

All  the  way  from  Greenwich  to  Waterbury,  in 
1689!  There  is  something  extremely  winsome  in 
that  journey.  It  was  in  the  spring-time,  too!  And 


1 82  EARLY  AND  LATER  PASTORS. 

there  were  Indian  villages  in  the  way.  But  Water- 
bury 's  discreet  and  stalwart  proprietors— Isaac 
Bronson,  a  very  pillar  in  the  wilderness,  as  well  as 
in  the  church;  Samuel  Hickox,  usually  found  on  the 
right  side  of  everything,  and  Obadiah  Richards, 
the  father-in-law  of  more  proprietors'  sons  than 
any  other  man  in  Waterbury — were  there,  as  guard 
and  guide  to  "  Mr.  Peck  and  family,  and  cattle  and 
estate." 

Time  will  not  permit  us  to  take  that  journey.  It 
is  safe  to  say  that  the  minister's  house  was  made 
ready;  that  much  scouting  by  the  boys,  not  down 
on  the  record,  took  place  that  day  to  discover  the 
approach  of  the  little  cavalcade.  There  was  the 
Rev.  Jeremiah  Peck,  Mrs.  Peck,  the  son  Jeremiah, 
twenty-six  years  old;  Anna,  a  daughter  of  twenty- 
four  years,  who  went,  the  next  year,  a  bride 
down  the  Farmington  path  with  Thomas  Stanley; 
and  Joshua,  a  lad  of  sixteen,  besides  probable  house- 
hold servants,with  the  "  cattle  and  estate."  The  date 
of  the  arrival  is  unknown,  but  that  it  occurred 
prior  to  May  2oth,  1689,  appears  by  the  fact  that  on 
that  day  the  good-natured  town  permitted  Mr. 
Peck's  door-yard  to  extend  a  rod  and  a  half  into 
the  highway,  which  extension  is  still  visible  to-day 
in  the  sloping  bit  of  lawn  lying  between  the  house 
of  Mrs.  John  C.  Booth  and  St.  John's  church. 

The  year  1689,  in  which  Mr.  Peck  came,  was  a 
year  of  great  and  special  trials,  both  in  Waterbury, 
in  other  towns  and  in  the  colony.  There  was  a 
great  drought,  and  there  was  an  epidemic  sickness 
in  most  of  the  plantations,  so  great  that  the  "  peo- 
ple suffered  for  want  of  tendance;"  so  great  that 
in  August  no  Court  could  be  held  at  Hartford. 


JEREMIAH  PECK.  183 

Two  of  the  twenty-five  men  who  signed  the  agree- 
ment for  Mr.  Peck's  salary  died  in  that  year.  To 
add  to  this,  the  beating  of  the  drum  for  volunteers 
to  go  forth  to  war  with  the  Indians  at  the  north 
was  heard  in  every  town,  and  Mr.  Peck  himself 
reminded  the  Court  of  the  many  soldiers  that 
Waterbury  had  entertained,  and  the  much  scouting 
that  had  been  done,  without  pay,  when  he  peti- 
tioned for  assistance  in  building  the  meeting  house 
— at  least,  the  petition  was  written  by  his  hand  and 
bears  evidence  in  its  style  of  his  authorship. 

It  seems  reasonable  to  believe  that  Mr.  Peck  was 
school-master  in  Waterbury,  for  we  find  no  mention 
of  schools  until  after  he  became  an  invalid. 

Although  there  remains  to  us  no  pictured  sem- 
blance of  his  personal  presence;  no  word  of  ser- 
mon or  of  song  to  keep  in  memory,  we  have  the 
assurance  that  the  Rev.  Jeremiah  Peck,  the  accred- 
ited first  minister  of  the  First  church  of  Water- 
bury,  was  a  man  of  true  courage,  of  great  enter- 
prise, and  of  unfailing  integrity;  that  in  all  his 
wanderings  there  is  no  indication  that  he  wan- 
dered one  step  away  from  the  path  of  a  true  and 
faithful  minister  of  the  gospel  of  Christ. 

He  remained  the  pastor  of  the  church  until  his 
death  on  the  7th  of  June,  1699.  Regarding  the 
place  of  his  burial,  there  is  neither  record  nor  tra- 
dition, so  far  as  has  been  learned.  He  may  have 
been  borne  at  that  early  day  over  the  then  new 
road  to  New  Haven,  and  there  laid  beside  his 
father,  Deacon  William  Peck  (who  died  at  the  ad- 
vanced age  of  ninety-one  years,  three  years  after 
this  church  was  gathered),  or  he  may  have  been 
laid  to  rest  in  yonder  late  desecrated  place  of  burial. 


1 84  EARLY  AND  LATER  PASTORS. 

JOHN  SOUTHMAYD. 

BY    MISS   SARAH    J.    PRICHARD. 

In  the  year  1699,  and  before  the  death  of  the  Rev. 
Jeremiah  Peck,  this  church  received  the  ministra- 
tions of  a  young  man  who  became  the  most  learned 
and  distinguished  lawyer  in  New  England.  When 
he  "came  to  Waterbury  he  was  fresh  from  Harvard 
College.  It  is  pleasing  to  know  that  this  people 
appreciated  the  ability  of  the  Rev.  John  Read, 
before  opportunity  had  been  given  him  to  prove  it 
elsewhere. 

He  made  a  deep  impression.  The  town  was 
stirred  to  activity.  There  was  a  determination  and 
an  earnestness  in  its  efforts  to  secure  Mr.  Read 
"  for  the  work  of  the  ministry  "  that  the  years  have 
not  been  able  to  obliterate  from  the  records.  It  is 
almost  pathetic  to  read  of  the  inducements  offered 
him  by  a  people  whose  ratable  estate  was  but  sev- 
enteen hundred  pounds,  and  the  number  of  whose 
taxable  citizens  was  but  forty-seven.  He  was 
offered  fifty  pounds  by  the  year,  in  provision  pay, 
ten  pounds  in  wood  and  twenty  pounds  in  labor,  in 
the  same  year  that  the  salary  of  the  governor  of  the 
colony  was  but  one  hundred  and  twenty  pounds,  in 
provision  pay.  It  must  be  remembered  that  this 
town,  as  a  town,  was  less  than  fourteen  years  old, 
having  been  incorporated  in  1686,  and  that  less  than 
forty  men  had  built  one  house  for  the  minister,  in 
which,  an  invalid,  his  life  was  drawing  to  its  close. 
Undaunted  by  the  magnitude  of  the  undertaking, 
the  town  promised  to  build  a  new  house  for  Mr. 


JOHN  SOUTHMAYD.  185 

Read.  It  was  to  be  thirty-eight  feet  long,  nineteen 
feet  wide;  to  have  two  chimneys  from  the  ground 
and,  apparently,  a  chamber  chimney.  The  town 
agreed  to  "  dig  and  stone  a  cellar,  clapboard  the 
house  and  shingle  it,  and  make  one  end  of  it  fit  to 
live  in."  As  a  present  gift,  independent  of  the 
town's  action,  the  proprietors  gave  him  ten  acres  of 
upland,  and  this  land  seems  to  have  been  laid  out 
to  him,  or  to  his  heirs,  long  afterward.  Yet  more 
was  there  in  the  heart  of  this  generous  people  to  do 
for  him.  After  he  had  been  ordained  two  years, 
the  house  and  the  house  lot  of  two  acres,  at  the 
south-west  corner  of  West  Main  and  Willow  Streets, 
with  a  one  hundred  and  fifty  pound  propriety,  was 
to  be  his  own.  Negotiations  went  on.  From  time 
to  time,  another  persuasive  voice  was  added  to  the 
committee,  to  entreat  Mr.  Read  to  dwell  here;  but, 
at  last,  as  winter  was  drawing  near,  Mr.  Read  evi- 
dently drew  away,  for  the  old  record  bears  wit- 
ness to  the  fact  in  these  words:  " Deacon  Thomas 
Judd  was  chosen  a  committee  to  endeavor  by  him- 
self, and  the  best  counsel  he  can  take,  to  get  one  to 
help  him  in  the  work  of  the  ministry,  and  to  bring 
a  man  amongst  us,  upon  probation,  in  order  to*  set- 
tlement, if  he  can."  John  Hopkins  was,  later,  chosen, 
with  Deacon  Judd,  "  for  getting  a  committee." 

As  we  may  not  enter  into  the  secret  of  the  power 
that  Mr.  Read  had  over  this  church,  let  us  listen  a 
moment  to  a  few  words  of  his  own.  Mr.  Thomas 
Prince  has  placed  them  on  record  for  us  as  follows: 

In  conversation  with  the  late  honorable  and  learned  lawyer, 
John  Read,  Esq.,  as  I  happened  to  speak  of  living  with  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Torrey,  of  Weymouth,  he  immediately  said:  "Mr. 
Torrey  !  That  was  the  most  wonderful  man  in  prayer  I  ever 
heard.  When  I  was  senior  sophister  at  college,  in  1696,  there 


1 86  EARLY  AND  LATER  PASTORS. 

being  a  day  of  prayer,  kept  by  the  association  at  Newtown, 
upon  some  extraordinary  occasion,  in  the  house  of  public  wor- 
ship, I  and  several  others  went  from  college  to  attend  the  exer- 
cise; where  were  two  prayers  made  by  two  ministers,  beside 
a  sermon  by  a  third,  in  the  forenoon,  and  the  like  in  the  after- 
noon; and  then,  Mr.  Torrey  stood  up  and  prayed  nearly  two 
hours;  but  all  his  prayer  so  entirely  new  and  various,  without 
tautologies,  so  exceeding  pertinent,  so  regular,  so  natural,  so 
free,  lively,  and  affecting,  that  towards  the  end  of  his  prayer, 
hinting  at  still  new  and  agreeable  scenes  of  thought,  we  could 
not  help  wishing  him  to  enlarge  upon  them.  But  the  time 
obliged  him  to  close,  to  our  regret;  and  we  could  gladly  have 
heard  him  an  hour  longer.  His  prayer  so  wonderfully 
enlivened  and  moved  the  congregation ,  that  we  seemed  not  to 
be  sensible  of  the  time's  elapsing,  till  he  had  finished." 

If  we  may  judge  of  the  influence  of  Mr.  Read  over 
the  people  of  Waterbury  by  Mr.  Read's  account  of 
the  effect  upon  him  of  Mr.  Torrey's  prayer,  we  can 
form  some  estimate  of  the  keenness  of  their  disap- 
pointment. But  the  work  on  the  minister's  house 
went  on  and  the  forty-seven  good  men  voted  a  tax 
on  themselves  of  half  a  penny  on  the  pound  "  in 
current  silver  money  or  its  equivalent,  to  buy  glass 
and  nails  for  the  minister's  house."  Truly,  there 
were  giants  in  those  days,  in  the  pulpit  and  in  the 
pews. 

Meanwhile,  the  minister  for  this  church  and  peo- 
ple had  been  made  ready  and  was  drawing  near. 
He  came,  in  the  person  of  a  young  man  of  twenty- 
three  years,  late  in  the  autumn  of  1699.  Dr.  Henry 
Bronson,  in  his  "  History  of  Waterbury,"  has  drawn 
for  us  a  sharp  and  vivid  outline  of  the  then  condi- 
tion of  affairs.  He  says  that  Waterbury  was  not  a 
very  inviting  field  of  labor;  the  town  was  yet  suf- 
fering from  the  effects  of  the  great  flood;  a  gloom 
had  settled  over  the  prospects  of  the  people;  they 


JOHN  SOUTHMAYD.  187 

were  upon  the  borders  of  civilization  and  in  the 
midst  of  an  Indian  war.  All  this  was  true,  but,  in 
the  ever  new  and  stirring  events  of  the  period, 
when  every  rustle  of  the  forest  trees  brought  with 
it  life  and  expectation  of  important  tidings  from 
distant  towns,  there  was  no  time  for  despondency, 
and  little  time  for  aught  else  than  imperative 
action.  The  building  of  the  great  common  fence 
guarding  the  grain  fields — an  undertaking,  the 
magnitude  of  which,  when  the  men  and  means  are 
estimated,  equals  and  even  surpasses  the  construc- 
tion of  any  of  our  modern  public  works  for  which 
we  take  credit  and  glory  to  ourselves — these  men 
carried  on  as  a  matter  of  life  and  death  to  them- 
selves and  families,  without  a  thought  of  credit  or 
glory;  and  this  great  work  was  yet  incomplete 
when  the  new  minister  came. 

John  Southmayd  was  born  in  Middletown,  Conn., 
August  23d,  1676.  He  was  the  son  of  William 
Southmayd,  mariner,  and  Esther  Hamlin,  his  wife; 
the  grandson  of  William  Southmayd;  the  great- 
grandson  of  Sir  William  Southmayd,  of  the  county 
of  Kent,  England,  and,  on  his  mother's  side,  the 
great-great-grandson  of  Elder  William  Goodwin,  of 
Hartford;  for  which  descent  let  his  descendants 
with  us,  to-day,  be  duly  thankful.  The  only  item 
regarding  his  father  that  has  come  to  the  notice  of 
the  writer,  is  recorded  in  the  diary  of  Major  John 
Talcott,  and  is  the  not  altogether  discreditable  fact 
that  William  Southmayd,  mariner,  permitted  a 
negro  boy  belonging  to  him  to  escape  out  of  his 
barque  at  Middletown. 

The  negotiations  for  the  settlement  of  Mr.  South- 
mayd over  this  church  were  carried  on  for  more 


1 88      EAELT  AND  LATER  PASTORS. 

than  five  years  before  they  culminated  in  his  ordi- 
nation. In  October,  1703,  "Sergeant  Isaac  Bron- 
son,  Thomas  Judd,  Jr.,  and  Edmund  Scott  were 
appointed  to  prepare  what  was  needful  for  the 
entertaining  the  elders  and  messengers,  for  the 
ordaining  Mr.  Southmayd,"  and  yet  Mr.  Southmayd 
himself  in  a  letter  written  to  Mr.  Prince  in  1729  has 
given  the  date  of  his  ordination  as  May  3oth,  1705. 
During  this  interval,  important  events  had  occurred 
in  his  life.  That  he  lived  in  Waterbury,  and  was 
the  acting  pastor  of  the  people,  is  strongly  indi- 
cated, if  not  proved,  by  the  records;  and  is  satisfac- 
torily proven  when  he  himself,  in  1738,  states 
that  he  has  been  with  the  church  about  thirty- 
eight  years.  Therefore,  we  may  conclude  that  he 
came  to  the  house  (begun  for  Mr.  Read),  with  his 
bride,  in  the  year  of  their  marriage,  1700.  They 
undoubtedly  lived,  for  a  time,  in  the  end  of  the 
house  the  town  had  finished.  In  1702  his  father 
died,  at  Middletown,  leaving  an  estate  of  more  than 
a  thousand  pounds,  out  of  which,  Dr.  Bronson  tells 
us,  Mr.  Southmayd  brought  to  Waterbury  "  fifty 
pounds  in  gold  and  silver";  and  yet,  despite  his 
coin  of  the  realm,  this  town  increased  his  salary, 
and  the  proprietors  from  year  to  year  bestowed 
gifts  upon  him,  independent  of  all  his  land  divisions 
that  fell  to  him  by  allotment,  from  his  one  hundred 
and  fifty  pound  propriety.  The  town  gave  him  the 
lot  of  two  acres,  extending  from  West  Main  street 
to  Grand,  on  one  corner  of  which  the  residence  of 
Mr.  Robert  K.  Brown  now  stands,  together  with  the 
house  that  had  been  begun  for  Mr.  Read  on  that 
lot;  it  purchased  the  two-acre  house  lot  next 
adjoining  that,  on  the  east,  and  added  it  to  the  gift. 


JOHN  SOUTHMAYD.  189 

In  that  house  on  the  corner,  two  daughters  were 
born  to  Mr.  Southmayd  before  his  ordination,  and 
one  of  the  two,  Susannah,  who  became  the  wife  of 
Thomas  Bronson,  Esq.,  was  born  just  before  the 
order  was  given,  in  1704,  to  fortify  Mr.  South  - 
mayd's  house.  Doubtless  the  fort  about  Timothy 
Stanley's  house  was  too  crowded  by  the  alarmed 
inhabitants  to  be  comfortable  for  Mr.  Southmayd's 
family. 

We  may  not  linger  over  this  period.  Mr.  South- 
mayd became  pastor,  preacher,  leader,  and  the 
responsible  conductor  of  many  of  the  interests  of 
the  community.  If  it  became  necessary  to  make  an 
appeal  to  the  General  Assembly,  the  people  applied 
to  Mr.  Southmayd  to  put  it  in  good  form  and  give 
it  all  the  advantage  that  might  accrue  from  his 
pen.  He  was  appointed,  in  1710,  on  the  committee 
to  draw  up,  in  writing,  "  the  circumstances  of  the 
town  in  that  time  of  war,  and  present  it  at  the  Gen- 
eral Court."  If  any  one  could  do  this  feelingly, 
surely  Mr.  Southmayd  could,  for,  just  over  the  way 
from  his  house,  near  where  Mr.  C.  M.  Mitchell  now 
lives,  were  the  distressed  wife  and  children  of  Jona- 
than Scott,  who  had  been  carried  off,  with  his  two 
sons,  by  the  Indians.  Again,  in  1711,  he  was 
requested  to  write  to  the  committee  of  safety, 
"  expressing  the  fears  of  the  common  enemy." 

Meanwhile,  the  little  meeting  house,  that  seems 
not  to  have  been  made  ready  for  the  first  seating  of 
the  people  until  1702,  was  continually  undergoing 
changes.  First,  the  young  men  were  permitted  to 
build  a  small  seat,  or  gallery,  to  sit  in,  and  then, 
Mr.  Southmayd  to  enlarge  the  seat  at  the  west  end 
of  the  pulpit,  and  then  the  town  agreed  to  put  up 


190 


EARLY  AND  LATER  PASTORS. 


a  beam  for  a  gallery  at  the  west  end,  and  finally 
to  build  the  gallery;  and  then  the  doors  and  win- 
dows had  to  be  repaired.  In  1719,  the  repairs  that 
had  been  eleven  years  in  process  were  completed, 
and  the  second  seating  took  place.  At  first,  the 
vote  was,  that  the  persons  formerly  seated  in  the 
pews  should  sit  there,  without  any  disturbance. 
This  vote  was  subsequently  overruled,  and  it  was 
decided  that  the  seating  should  be  by  list  of  estate 
and  by  age,  reckoning  one  year  in  age  to  four 
pound  of  estate.  But  two  years  pass  by,  and  then, 
in  1721,  the  town  voted  to  apply  to  the  General 
Court  to  get  a  tax  on  all  the  land  laid  out  within 
the  town  bounds,  the  money  to  be  disposed  of  to 
the  building  of  a  meeting  house.  I  do  not  know  the 
result  of  the  above  appeal  to  the  Court,  but  it  was 
probably  not  granted,  for  in  the  year  following 
more  repairs  were  made;  a  part  of  the  stairs  into 
the  gallery  was  taken  up,  and  seats  were  placed 
where  the  stairs  had  been.  We  might  never  have 
known  that  the  first  meeting  house  had  east  and 
west  doors,  had  they  remained  as  they  were  at  the 
beginning;  but  they  were  closed  on  this  occasion, 
to  give  place  for  more  seats.  The  outside  of  the 
meeting  house  was  mended  and  the  pulpit  was 
raised. 

For  three  years  the  little  meeting  house  must 
have  been,  on  Sundays,  on  lecture  days  and  on 
Fast  days,  not  to  mention  Thanksgiving  days,  a 
veritable  human  hive,  and  it  is  not  surprising  that 
the  pulpit  had  to  be  raised.  In  1726,  the  situation 
evidently  became  unbearable  and  it  was  decided  to 
build  a  new  meeting  house,  forty  feet  wide  and 
fifty  feet  long.  Later,  it  was  decided  that  the  area 


JOHN  SOUTHMAYD. 


191 


of  the  new  house  must  contain  two  thousand  square 
feet,  but  it  might  be  proportioned  by  the  com- 
mittee and  the  workman,  and  we  have  no  record  as 
to  the  proportions  adopted.  The  need  was  impera- 
tive, and  in  the  building  haste  was  made.  There 
was  much  culling  of  material  for  that  house.  Mr. 
Southmayd  held  I  know  not  what  place  on  the 
committee,  but  a  little  book  found  in  the  Kings- 
bury  house  tells  its  own  interesting  story,  written 
by  his  hand,  of  the  building  of  the  second  meeting 
house  in  Waterbury. 

On  the  first  day  of  July,  1729,  the  town  met 
together  for  the  important  work  of  seating  the 
people  in  it.  Mr.  Southmayd  was  given  his  choice 
and  chose  "  the  pew  at  the  east  end  of  the  pulpit, 
next  to  the  pulpit."  It  was  evidently  a  day  of 
great  expectations,  and  the  committee  began  to 
bestow  the  honors.  Age  and  estate  alone  are  men- 
tioned as  qualifications.  The  pew,  next  in  dignity 
to  Mr.  Southmayd's  was  there,  facing  that  one, 
with  the  pulpit  between.  Into  it  were  delegated 
those  whom  they  delighted  to  honor,  Abraham 
Andrus,  senior,  and  his  wife.  Mr.  Andrus  must  have 
been  eighty-two  years  of  age  at  this  date,  and,  with 
the  exception  of  his  brother-in-law,  Benjamin 
Barns,  seems  to  have  been  the  only  signer  of  the 
articles  for  the  settling  of  Mattatuck  left  alive, 
unless  we  count  Stephen  Upson,  senior,  who  was 
probably  of  greater  age  than  either  Andrus  or 
Barns,  but  who  signed  later.  Into  the  pew  with 
the  above  went  widow  Deborah  Porter,  whose  hus- 
band, Dr.  Daniel  Porter,  had  died  a  few  years 
before.  Her  house  was  hard  by  the  meeting  house, 
facing  it,  with  only  the  highway  between.  Lieu- 


192 


EARLY  AND  LATER  PASTORS. 


tenant  Hopkins  and  his  wife  completed  the  list. 
These  persons  had  lived  in  Waterbury  fifty  years, 
and  had  been  familiar  with  every  scene  of  joy  or 
woe  within  the  town.  Into  the  second  pew  went 
Dr.  Warner.  However  much  we  may  desire  to  fol- 
low this  seating,  the  door  of  the  record  closes  upon 
us,  and  we  are  shut  out  from  farther  knowledge, 
thanks  to  Mr.  Southmayd.  If  there  was  a  skeleton 
in  the  church,  he  has  not  told  of  it.  New  people 
had  come  in,  doubtless  there  was  dissatisfaction 
and  some  friction,  but  the  Rev.  John  Southmayd's 
good  common  sense  was  equal  to  the  occasion. 

It  was  when  the  new  meeting  house  was  fin- 
ished that  Mr.  Southmayd's  salary  was  raised  to 
seventy-five  pounds,  money.  This  was  one  of  Water- 
bury's  bright  periods.  The  old  town  was  growing. 
It  would  be  pleasant  to  tell  of  the  new  inhabitants 
that  came.  Two  years  later,  the  minister's  salary 
reached  its  highest  point,  one  hundred  pounds,  and 
in  the  following  year  came  the  first  of  a  long  series 
of  trials  that  the  old  First  church  had  to  pass 
through ;  and  they  grew  then,  just  as  they  are 
growing  to-day,  out  of  the  town's  increase  in  wealth 
and  population.  The  inhabitants  who  had  been 
welcomed  to  hospitable  meadows  and  uplands, 
asked  to  withdraw  their  support  from  the  church 
in  the  town  spot,  and  establish  little  centers  of  their 
own,  here  and  there,  throughout  the  township. 
To-day,  we  can  see  the  bright  outcome  of  all  this 
darkness  and  trial,  better  than  we  can  see  the  sore 
distress  that  surely  settled  in  the  breast  of  their 
dear  mother,  when  she  saw  her  birdlings  flying 
away,  laden  with  much  of  the  harvest  that  she  had 
toiled  to  gather.  Through  all  this  period  the  Rev. 


JOHN  SOUTHMAYD. 


193 


John  Southmayd  proved  himself  the  very  man 
for  this  church  and  people.  They  who  will  give 
the  subject  careful  study,  amid  the  facts  left  to 
us,  will  find  that  his  name  is  worthy  of  great 
honor. 

To  go  back  to  1721.  That  was  the  year  in  which, 
in  the  great  town  meeting  in  December,  Mr. 
Southmayd  was  by  the  town  chosen  town  clerk, 
and  by  the  proprietors,  proprietors'  clerk — an  act 
of  ancient  Waterbury  the  value  of  which  will  re- 
main in  full  force  until  time  shall  have  effaced  the 
last  word  written  by  him.  For  thirty-four  years 
he  filled  the  offices,  to  the  increasing  satisfaction 
of  both  parties.  How  difficult  it  must  have  been  to 
keep  the  peace  at  all  times  between  town  and 
proprietors,  and  make  the  record  satisfactory  to 
both  amid  conflicting  interests,  came  out  on  one  or 
two  occasions,  when  the  votes  had  been  recorded 
by  another  hand. 

After  "  about  thirty-eight  years"  as  preacher  and 
pastor  of  this  church,  the  Rev.  John  Southmayd 
sent  "  to  the  deacons  and  townsmen  in  Waterbury 
to  communicate  to  the  church  and  inhabitants  of 
said  town,"  words  that  must  have  occasioned  sorrow. 
He  addressed  his  people  as  "  Beloved  brethren  and 
neighbors,"  and  told  them  that  through  great  diffi- 
culty and  infirmity  of  body  he  had  served  them  for 
two  years;  that  he  had  no  expectation  of  relief; 
that  the  public  work  he  was  engaged  in  was  too 
much  for  him;  that  a  sedentary  life  was  destruc- 
tive to  his  health,  and  that  he  desired  to  live  more 
privately.  He  besought  his  people  to  obtain 
another  minister  and  give  him  relief  as  speedily  as 
possible.  The  town  acceded  to  his  request,  but 
9 


194 


EARLY  AND  LATER  PASTORS. 


"  expressed  a  wish  that  he  would  still  serve,  as  far 
as  he  should  be  able." 

No  sooner  was  Mr.  Southmayd  relieved  from  his 
duties  as  pastor  than  other  obligations  were  almost 
forced  upon  him.  He  had  the  care  of  letting  out 
the  school  money,  and  taking  security,  by  mort- 
gage; he  kept  the  notes  and  "  bonds  of  interest " 
that  the  ministry  land  was  sold  for,  and  was  to 
deliver  the  just  proportion  to  the  several  societies' 
committees,  and  he  was  appointed  town  treasurer. 
The  number  of  bargains  still  in  existence,  written 
by  Mr.  Southmayd,  and  the  indentures,  with  their 
peculiar  and  rhythmic  phraseology,  prepared  by 
him,  attest  the  confidence  placed  in  him  by  all 
sorts  and  conditions  of  men.  The  General  Assem- 
bly placed  his  name  on  committees  requiring 
firmness  and  discretion  united  with  good  judg- 
ment. During  all  these  useful  years  Mr.  South- 
mayd seems  to  have  carried  on  his  landed  estate 
with  good  husbandry,  and  it  was  constantly  grow- 
ing around  him.  He  could  stand  in  his  door  at 
one  time,  and,  looking  southward,  say  that  he 
owned  all  the  land  lying  bet  ween  that  door  and  the 
Naugatuck  river.  A  goodly  inheritance  it  would 
be  to  a  descendant  of  his  in  1891. 

The  attitude  of  Mr.  Southmayd  toward  the 
Church  of  England,  in  its  earliest  manifestations 
in  our  town,  is  worthy  of  note.  Not  a  hostile 
thought  appears  to  have  been  evoked  in  his  breast, 
when  certain  men  "with  Church  of  England  pro- 
clivities" voted  against  the  payment  of  a  one  hun- 
dred pound  obligation  held  by  Mr.  Southmayd 
against  the  town.  He  gave  his  consent  as 
guardian  to  Oliver  Welton,  a  minor,  who  desired  to 


JOHN  SOUTHMAYD.  195 

convey  a  house  lot  adjoining  Mr.  Southmayd  to 
"  the  professors  of  the  Church  of  England  as  a  glebe 
lot,  for  the  use  of  the  church  forever."  We  may 
believe  that  his  voice  was  heard  and  his  influence 
felt  in  the  town  meeting  of  1742,  when  liberty  was 
given  to  Dr.  Benjamin  Warner  and  others,  "  to  set 
up  a  church  on  the  highway,  north  of  Edmund 
Scott's  house  lot,  against  the  apple  tree  in  said  lot, 
by  the  highway,"  and  in  the  meeting  when  the 
town  agreed  to  "  give  twelve  pounds  old  tenor  bills 
out  of  the  town  treasury,  to  purchase  land  for  the 
church  to  be  placed  upon,  that  the  highway  be  not 
cumbered,"  and  also  in  the  meeting  when  the  town 
voted  that  it  would  not  oppose  a  petition  of  the 
"  churchmen  "  to  the  General  Assembly  for  parish 
privileges. 

During  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century 
Mr.  Southmayd's  name  must  have  been  honored  in 
all  the  region.  It  certainly  did  very  much  in  many 
ways  for  Waterbury  township,  and  up  to  the 
present  time  it  seems,  at  least  to  the  writer,  not  to 
be  too  much  to  say  of  him,  that  no  man  who  has 
ever  lived  within  the  original  bounds  of  the  town 
has  done  as  much  for  Waterbury  as  did  John  South- 
mayd. It  is  true  that  he  had  more  than  a  half 
century  to  do  his  work  in;  and  it  was  at  a  time 
when  all  things  were  in  a  formative  stage,  and  in  a 
period  when  the  minister  was  to  his  people  a  law- 
giver. It  was  during  his  ministry,  and  in  attend- 
ance upon  his  preaching,  that  the  great  Samuel 
Hopkins  grew  up;  who  was  able  to  say  that  "he 
never  had  heard  a  profane  word  in  Waterbury." 
Was  that  an  unconscious  tribute  to  John  South- 
mayd ? 


196  EARLY  AND  LATER   PASTORS. 

We  go  back  once  more  to  the  town  books;  and 
there  we  find  inscribed  certain  family  records,  in 
Mr.  Southmayd's  hand,  that  tell,  each  and  every 
one  in  its  own  words  and  way,  how  sorrows  entered 
his  soul.  The  first  bears  date  August  i3th,  1741, 
and  records  the  death  of  Susanna  Southmayd,  wife 
of  Thomas  Bronson.  This  is  the  daughter  who  was 
born  when  the  house  was  fortified  in  1704.  Next, 
we  find,  "  John  Southmayd,  son  of  John  Southmayd, 
died  February  28th,  1742-43,  about  twelve  of  the 
clock,  in  the  thirty-third  year  of  his  age."  And 
then  we  come  to  this:  "Anna  Southmayd,  wife  of 
Joseph  Bronson,  died  August  nth,  1749,  in  the 
forty-third  year  of  her  age."  In  less  than  two 
years,  his  hand  had  written  on  the  page,  "  Susanna 
Southmayd,  wife  of  Mr.  John  Southmayd,  died  Feb- 
ruary 8th,  between  ten  and  eleven  of  the  clock  at 
night,  1751-2."  But  not  yet  had  the  final  stroke 
fallen.  His  son  Daniel  was  yet  alive.  Two  years 
later  we  find  written,  "  Daniel  Southmayd,  son  of 
John  Southmayd,  died  about  eleven  o'clock  at  night, 
January  i2th,  1754."  And  thus  John  Southmayd,  of 
whom  we  have  said  too  little  because  we  feared  to 
say  too  much,  was  left  in  his  last  years  alone.  (His 
only  daughter  was  living  at  Middletown.)  But  not 
for  long.  Once  again  we  glance  at  the  old  record. 
Thereon  we  find:  "  Mr.  John  Southmayd,  died 
November  i4th,  1755,  in  the  eightieth  year  of  his 
age." 

Earth's  highest  station  ends  in  "  Here  he  lies," 
And  "  Dust  to  dust"  concludes  her  noblest  song.* 

*Alas  !  we  may  not  add : 

"And  where  his  pilgrim  feet  have  trod, 

The  God  he  trusted  guards  his  grave." — S.  J.  P. 


MARK  LEAVEN  WORTH.  197 


MARK  LEAVENWORTH. 

BY    THE    HON.   FREDERICK    J.    KINGSBURY.* 

The  Rev.  Mark  Leavenworth,  the  third  minister 
settled  over  this  church,  was  the  sixth  son,  as  well 
as  the  sixth  child,  of  Dr.  (and  Deacon)  Thomas 
Leavenworth  of  Stratford,  Conn.,  where  he  was 
born  in  1711.  His  mother's  name  was  Mary  Jen- 
kins. When  he  was  six  or  seven  years  old  his 
father  moved  to  Ripton  parish,  quite  at  the  north 
end  of  the  town  (and  now  the  town  of  Hunting- 
ton),  and  there  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life. 
His  house  was  near  the  Housatonic  river  and  about 
two  miles  northward  from  the  new  village  of  Shel- 
ton.  Mark  was  probably  fitted  for  college  by  the 
Rev.  Jedediah  Mills  of  Ripton,  as  he  was  a  teacher 
of  great  reputation  at  that  time.  He  was  graduated 
at  Yale  College  in  the  class  of  1737,  under  the  presi- 
dency of  the  Rev.  Elisha  Williams.  The  year  that 
he  entered  college,  namely  1733,  the  Rev.  George 
Berkeley,  dean  of  Derry,  and  afterwards  bishop  of 
Cloyne  in  Ireland,  who  had  come  to  this  country 
with  the  idea  of  founding  an  institution  of  learn- 
ing, but  afterward  abandoned  the  plan,  had  pre- 
sented to  the  college  a  valuable  farm  near  Newport 
on  the  island  of  Rhode  Island,  the  income  of  which 
should  be  used  for  the  benefit  of  three  resident 
graduates  who  should  pass  the  best  examinations 
in  Latin  and  Greek.  This  income  they  were  to 
enjoy  for  three  years,  if  they  remained  so  long  at 

*  Mr.  Kingsbury,  who  is  a  lineal  descendant  of  Mr.  Leavenworth  and  of  his  two 
predecessors,  is  a  member  of  St.  John's  church. 


198  EARLY  AND  LATER  PASTORS. 

the  college.  They  were  known,  and  are  still 
known,  on  the  college  books  as  "  scholars  of  the 
house."  One  of  these  valuable  scholarships  young 
Leavenworth  obtained,  and  remained  in  New 
Haven  two  years,  pursuing  a  theological  course. 
He  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  New  Haven  East 
association  of  ministers,  October  loth,  1738.  In 
June,  1 739,  after  preaching  a  few  Sundays  on  trial, 
here  in  Waterbury,  he  was  unanimously  invited  to 
succeed  the  Rev.  John  Southmayd,  who  had 
resigned  his  charge  on  account  of  enfeebled 
health.  Mr.  Southmayd  had  been  the  minister  here 
for  nearly  or  quite  forty  years.  He  was  a  strong 
man  in  character  and  intellect,  a  man  of  wealth, 
and  a  man  of  great  influence  in  the  community. 
His  change  of  occupation  seems  to  have  been  ben- 
eficial to  his  health,  for  he  lived  seventeen  years 
after  this,  acting  as  magistrate  and  filling  various 
offices  of  public  trust,  and  doubtless  remaining  by 
far  the  most  influential  member  of  Mr.  Leaven- 
worth's  congregation.  It  has  always  seemed  to  me 
that  the  relation  of  these  two  men  to  each  other 
during  this  period  was  the  highest  possible  evi- 
dence of  the  superior  character  of  both.  It  speaks 
of  broadness,  of  judicial  fair-mindedness,  of  great 
natural  amiability,  and  of  much  Christian  charity. 
The  relations  between  a  new  pastor  and  an  old  one 
who  remains  a  member  of  the  congregation  are 
proverbially  difficult  and  very  apt  to  become 
strained;  nor  is  this  wholly  the  fault  of  the  men 
themselves,  but  it  is  largely  referable  to  that 
instinct  of  humanity  in  the  members  of  the  con- 
gregation which  leads  so  readily  to  the  formation 
of  parties,  cliques  and  schools.  Mr.  Southmayd 


MARK  LEAVENWORTH. 


199 


and  Mr.  Leavenworth  did  not  always  think  alike; 
they  differed  and  differed  widely  on  matters  that 
were  regarded  then  as  of  the  highest  importance. 
But  they  never  lost  their  mutual  respect  and  affec- 
tion, and — as  a  final  evidence  of  confidence  and 
esteem — after  seventeen  years  of  intimate  acquaint- 
ance Mr.  Southmayd  made  Mr.  Leavenworth  the 
executor  of  his  will. 

In  February,  1740,  a  month  before  the  time  for 
his  ordination,  perhaps  in  order  that  he  might  be 
fully  equipped  for  his  work,  Mr.  Leavenworth  was 
married  to  Miss  Ruth  Peck,  daughter  of  Deacon 
Jeremiah  Peck  of  Northbury  parish,  now  Plym- 
outh, and  granddaughter  of  the  Rev.  Jeremiah 
Peck,  the  first  minister  of  this  church.  The  people 
of  Northbury  had  been  very  insistent  in  their 
demand  for  what  they  then  called  "  winter  privi- 
leges," and  although  at  this  time  I  think  they  had 
gained  their  point,  perhaps  to  some  of  them  the 
young  Waterbury  minister  was  a  "winter  privi- 
lege "  by  no  means  to  be  despised. 

A  great-great-granddaugter  of  Mr.  Leavenworth, 
living  on  the  ground  where  he  lived,  and  perhaps 
partly  in  the  same  house  (for  a  portion  of  it  is  said 
still  to  exist),  has  discovered  among  his  papers  a 
poem  addressed  to  the  bride  and  groom  on  the 
occasion  of  their  marriage.  It  bears  the  signature 
of  "  J.  G.,"  which  are  doubtless  the  initials  of  the 
Rev.  John  Graham  of  Southbury.  The  penman- 
ship is  bold  and  elegant,  and  the  writing,  although 
more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  old,  is  clear 
and  distinct.  The  composing  and  sending  of  such 
a  poem  on  such  an  occasion  is  a  pleasant  indication 
of  the  amenities  and  aesthetic  susceptibilities  of  a 


200  EARLY  AND  LATER  PASTORS. 

time  that  is  apt  to  seem  to  us  cold,  hard  and  un- 
joyous.  Doubtless  it  was  written  in  haste  and  sent  as 
a  pleasant,  friendly  greeting,  without  thought  of 
critical  eyes,  but  the  glimpse  it  gives  us  of  a  life  of 
culture  and  refinement  and  of  an  interchange  of 
courtesies,  makes  it  an  object  of  interest  far  beyond 
its  intrinsic  merit.  This  is  the  poem  : 

TO   MR.    M.    LEAVENWORTH   AND   MADAM   RUTH   PECK   HIS   BRIDE. 

Hail,  happy  pair,  long  may  you  prove 
The  Joys  of  chaste  connubial  Love. 
To  Heaven  and  to  each  other  true 
Be  Eden's  joys  revived  in  you. 
In  honorable  wedlock  dwell, 
Like  our  first  parents  ere  they  fell. 
No  fretful  strife  or  anxious  care 
Or  pining  jealousy  be  there. 
May  a  fair  progeny  presage 
Comfort  to  your  declining  age, 
And  when  you  late  to  Heaven  remove 
There  flourish  in  immortal  love. — J.  G. 

Having  referred  to  Mr.  Leavenworth's  residence, 
I  may  as  well  say  now  that  it  was  the  place  next 
east  of  the  church,  and  that  this  church  building 
stands  in  part  at  least  upon  what  was  his  home- 
stead. But  the  church  in  which  he  preached — I 
beg  his  pardon,  the  "  meeting  house,"  for,  although 
he  was  a  liberal-minded  man  even  towards  dissen- 
ters, I  don't  think  he  would  ever  have  permitted 
the  building  to  be  called  a  church — the  meeting 
house,  then,  in  which  he  preached,  stood  at  the  east 
end  of  the  green  on  the  ground  now  occupied  in 
part  by  the  Welton  drinking  fountain. 

In  March,  1740,  he  was  duly  ordained,  with  a  five 
hundred  pound  settlement  and  a  one  hundred  and 
fifty  pound  salary.  But  the  woeful  tergiversation 
of  Cutler  and  Johnson  had  produced  a  wholesome 


MARK  LEA  VENWORTH.  201 

distrust  in  men's  minds,  and  he  was  required  to  give 
a  bond  for  five  hundred  pounds  to  be  paid  to  the 
society  "if  he  should,  within  twenty  years  from 
that  time,  become  a  churchman,  or  by  immorality 
or  heresy  render  himself  unfit  for  a  gospel  minis- 
ter,— to  be  decided  by  a  council."  Undoubtedly 
the  becoming  a  churchman  was  the  thing  to  be 
specially  provided  against,  the  other  general  forms 
of  misdemeanor  being  mainly  added  by  way  of 
rhetorical  balance.  In  about  nine  years,  however, 
whether  they  had  ceased  to  care,  or  ceased  to  fear, 
the  society,  apparently  of  their  own  motion,  released 
him  from  his  bond. 

Mr.  Leavenworth  had  hardly  become  fairly  set- 
tled in  his  ministry  when  all  his  tact,  judgment 
and  influence  were  put  to  the  test.  Dr.  Bushnell 
says  that  our  early  settlers  came  into  the  wilder- 
ness to  be  tempted  of  the  devil.  And  in  the  matter 
of  resistance  they  were  not  altogether  successful. 
There  had  been  a  great  deterioration  in  morals, 
and  doubtless  some  lapses  in  religious  doctrine; 
but  when,  in  1740,  the  Rev.  George  Whitefield  went 
through  the  country  speaking,  in  words  such  as 
few  men  have  the  power  to  utter,  of  righteousness, 
temperance,  and  a  judgment  to  come,  all  New  Eng- 
land trembled,  and  the  cry  rose  up,  "  What  shall  we 
do  to  be  saved  ?"  Young  men  like  Mr.  Leaven- 
worth,  with  high  hopes  and  earnest  enthusiasm, 
threw  themselves  into  the  movement,  fully  believ- 
ing that  it  was  the  Lord's  doing;  while  the  older 
and  more  conservative  people  of  longer  experience, 
of  whom  Mr.  Southmayd  was  a  representative,  saw 
in  it  but  a  temporary  wave  of  excitement,  already 
accompanied  by  some  excesses,  and  doubted  much 
whereunto  the  thing  would  grow.  Cries  of  heresy 


202  EARLY  AND  LATER  PASTORS. 

were  in  the  air,  the  odium  theologicum  was  aroused, 
and  in  1744  Mr.  Leavenworth  and  two  others,  for 
assisting  at  the  ordination  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Lee  of 
Salisbury,  who  was  supposed  to  be  in  sympathy 
with  the  new  movement,  and  whose  church  was 
gathered  under  the  Cambridge  platform,  were  tried 
and  suspended  from  all  associational  communion. 
It  does  not  appear,  however,  that  the  relations  of 
Mr.  Leavenworth  to  his  people  were  very  seriously 
affected.  And  here  again  I  suspect  we  see  the 
broad,  kindly  and  judicious  nature  of  Mr.  South- 
mayd,  who,  though  not  in  sympathy  with  the  new 
movement,  perhaps  saw  some  good  in  it,  and  at 
least  knew  how  to  make  allowances  for  youthful 
enthusiasm. 

Mr.  Leavenworth  was  evidently  a  man  of  broad 
charity  himself,  and  of  a  liberal  and  catholic  spirit, 
for  in  1747  he  declined  that  part  of  his  salary  which 
was  raised  by  tax  on  the  Episcopal  portion  of  the 
inhabitants,  although  I  suppose  his  legal  right  to  it 
was  clear;  but  his  sense  of  justice  rebelled,  and  he 
seems  always  to  have  had  the  courage  of  his  con- 
victions. 

In  1749,  a  great  and  fatal  sickness  appeared  in 
the  town.  Dr.  Eronson  estimates  the  deaths  at  six 
per  cent,  of  the  whole  population.  There  were 
hardly  enough  of  the  well  to  care  for  the  sick  and 
bury  the  dead.  There  was  difficulty  in  getting 
medicine,  and  Mr.  Leavenworth  volunteered  to  go 
on  horseback  to  Norwich  and  procure  a  supply. 

In  1750,  after  several  years  of  enfeebled  health, 
the  first  Mrs.  Leavenworth  died,  and  not  very  long 
after,  he  married  Sarah,  daughter  of  Captain  Joseph 
Hull  of  Derby.  She  was  a  person  of  much  charac- 
ter, dignity  and  influence.  She  was  the  mother  of 


HARK  LEAVENWORTH. 


203 


all  his  children  except  one.  She  survived  him 
several  years,  dying,  as  you  will  have  seen  by  her 
tombstone,  in  1808.  She  was  universally  known  as 
Madam  Leavenworth,  a  title  which  was  perhaps 
due  to  her  position  by  the  etiquette  of  the  time, 
but  was  due  to  her  personality  also,  and  perhaps  in 
part  to  her  two  wheeled  chair  or  chaise — the  only 
vehicle  of  the  kind  in  town. 

In  1754,  Daniel  Southmayd  died.  He  was  the 
pride  of  Waterbury.  A  son  of  the  Rev.  John,  a 
graduate  of  Yale  college,  a  young  man  of  only 
thirty-seven  years  of  age — he  had  filled  almost 
every  position  of  honor,  trust  and  profit  in  the  gift 
of  his  fellow  townsmen.  His  death  after  a  brief 
illness  was  a  cause  of  public  mourning.  Mr.  Leav- 
enworth improved  the  occasion  by  a  sermon  of  such 
power  that  the  whole  congregation  were  "  dissolved 
in  tears."  The  sermon  was  printed  and  is  still 
extant;  but  the  excitement,  the  personal  element 
and  the  sense  of  loss  can  not  be  reproduced;  like 
many  another  traditionary  burst  of  eloquence,  its 
power  can  only  be  estimated  from  our  knowledge 
of  its  effect. 

In  1760,  when  about  fifty  years  old,  he  accepted 
the  position  of  chaplain  in  Colonel  Whiting's  regi- 
ment, called  into  service  to  repel  the  attacks  of 
French  and  Indians  on  our  northern  frontier.  He 
was  away  from  home  on  this  service  eight  months. 
Hollister  says:*  "The  amount  of  fatigue  endured 
by  the  Connecticut  troops  was  almost  incredible." 
Putnam  was  there  as  lieutenant-colonel,  and  where- 
ever  he  went  there  was  very  apt  to  be  fighting  and 
sure  to  be  work.  Mr.  Leavenworth  was  appointed 

*  History  of  Connecticut,  Vol.  II.,  p.  97. 


204  EARLY  AND  LATER  PASTORS. 

chaplain  again,  the  following  year,  but  probably 
felt  that  he  was  needed  at  home. 

In  1772,  he  received  that  highest  compliment  to 
a  Connecticut  clergyman  of  the  time,  the  appoint- 
ment to  preach  the  election  sermon.  That  also  still 
exists,  in  printed  form,  and  doubtless  compares 
fairly,  if  not  favorably,  with  the  rest  of  the  collec- 
tion. I  believe  there  has  generally  been  but  one 
edition  called  for. 

When  the  Revolutionary  conflict  came  on,  there 
was  no  doubt  where  Mr.  Leavenworth  would  be 
found.  He  threw  himself  into  it  with  all  the 
enthusiasm  and  energy  of  his  nature.  He  prayed, 
doubtless  "straight  from  the  shoulder,"  when  it 
became  his  duty  to  open  the  first  town  meeting  on 
the  subject  with  prayer.  He  was  early  on  the  state 
committee  for  raising  troops.  Were  it  not  that  he 
was  now  well  on  in  years,  he  would  probably  have 
been  found  again  at  the  front.  Three  of  his  sons 
did  go, — one  with  Arnold  on  his  first  trip  to  Bos- 
ton, another  serving  as  surgeon  during  the  whole 
eight  long,  tedious  years.  All  three  were  graduates 
of  Yale.  But  this  part  of  Mr.  Leavenworth's  life, 
so  important  to  him,  to  his  people  and  to  his  coun- 
try, must  be  dismissed  with  few  words. 

In  1793,  at  the  age  of  eighty-two,  when  the  incon- 
sistency of  freedom  and  slavery  began  to  impress 
itself  on  the  public  mind,  we  find  his  name  on  the 
list  of  the  new  "  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Free- 
dom,"— a  fact  showing  again  his  ready  sympathy 
with  new  ideas  whenever  their  tendency  was  to  the 
uplifting  of  humanity,  and  his  promptness  to  act  in 
the  line  of  his  convictions. 

The  last  prominent  public  act  of  his  life  was 
when  in  1795,  at  the  age  of  eighty-four,  he  laid  the 


MARK  LEAVENWORTH.  205 

corner  stone  of  a  new  meeting  house  for  his  people, 
the  third  erected  by  the  old  society.  This  stone, 
which  was  at  the  north-west  corner,  bore  upon  its 
west  side  in  conspicuous  letters,  his  initials,  M.  L., 
and  the  date,  1795.  When  the  meeting  house  was 
removed,  in  1835,  to  the  site  now  occupied  by  the 
Second  Congregational  church,  the  stone  was  pre- 
served and  placed  in  the  south-west  corner.  When 
the  building  was  again  moved,  to  the  rear,  the 
stone  disappeared.  There  is  a  brown  stone  in  the 
foundation  of  the  Second  church  on  the  south  side, 
not  far  back,  which  is  perhaps  the  missing  one;  and 
when  the  Second  society  builds  its  new  church, 
and  the  present  edifice  is  removed,  I  hope  the 
stone  may  be  found  and  presented  to  this  society 
to  be  preserved  with  its  relics. 

Mr.  Leavenworth  is  described  to  us  as  a  man  of 
medium  size,  erect  figure  and  quick  movement.  He 
had  much  dignity  of  manner,  but  a  quick  sense  of 
humor  and  was  on  terms  of  familiarity  with  his 
people,  though  the  distance  which  in  those  days 
existed  between  the  minister  and  his  flock  was 
doubtless  duly  maintained.  Dr.  Bronson  has  pre- 
served several  anecdotes  illustrating  these  traits  in 
his  character,  but  I  must  not  stop  to  repeat  them 
here.* 

On  August  26th,  1797,  in  the  eighty-sixth  year  of 
his  age  and  the  fifty-eighth  of  his  ministry,  he 
closed  his  long  career,  having  publicly  officiated 
only  a  short  time  before  his  death. 

The  life  of  a  New  England  country  minister, 
however  busy,  useful  and  influential  it  may  be, 
leaves  behind  but  a  meagre  record  for  historic  uses, 
and  it  is  only  by  detached  facts  accidentally  pre- 

*  Bronson's  History  of  Waterbury,  pp.  289-290. 


206  EARLY  AND  LATER  PASTORS. 

served,  that  we  are  able  to  reproduce,  to  any 
degree,  the  times  in  which  he  lived  and  his  influ- 
ence upon  them.  We  have  enough  to  show  that 
Mr.  Leaven  worth  was  a  man  of  affairs,  that  he 
took  an  active  interest  in  everything  relating  to 
the  public  welfare.  That  he  was  a  good  business 
manager  appears  from  the  fact  that  he  lived  in  a 
hospitable  and  somewhat  elegant  manner,  and  sent 
three  of  his  sons  to  college.  He  also  became  a 
large  landholder,  in  the  days  when  land  was  the 
principal  source  of  wealth.  That  he  was  always 
right,  or  always  wise,  or  even  always  good,  we 
know  too  much  of  human  nature  to  believe  or  even 
to  imagine;  but,  whatever  his  shortcomings  may 
have  been,  their  proportion  was  so  small  that  time 
and  the  mantle  of  charity  have  hidden  them  from 
us. 

The  two  published  sermons  which  have  come 
down  to  us,  both  prepared  for  special  occasions, 
and  well  received  at  the  time,  though  good,  can 
hardly  be  called  great.  A  much  more  vivid  notion 
of  his  pulpit  power  is  given  us  in  the  recollection 
of  the  late  Dr.  Samuel  Elton,  who  remembered  the 
impression  made  upon  him  as  a  boy,  when  Mr. 
Leavenworth,  then  certainly  not  less  than  eighty 
years  of  age,  preached  in  Watertown.  He  remem- 
bered him  as  a  man  of  medium  height,  of  erect 
figure,  bright,  dark  eyes,  and  a  commanding  voice. 
He  stood  for  a  moment  in  the  pulpit,  looking 
around  upon  his  congregation,  and  then  announced 
his  text:  "The  fathers,  where  are  they?  and  the 
prophets,  do  they  live  forever  ? "  His  theme  was, 
the  changes  that  had  taken  place  in  that  congrega- 
tion within  his  own  memory,  and  the  impression 


MARK  LEAVENWORTH.  207 

he  produced  upon  his  youthful  hearer  remained 
vivid  and  profound  after  seventy  years. 

It  is  said  that  he  was  a  favorite  teacher,  and 
attracted  here  many  young  men.  They  must  have 
been  advanced  students,  as  I  know  of  no  evidence 
of  his  having  had  anything  like  a  school.*  But  we 
can  easily  see  that  in  his  superior  scholarship,  his 
prompt  and  decided  ways,  his  sense  of  humor,  his 
breezy  companionship,  and  his  ready  sympathy 
with  all  that  was  truest  and  best,  he  possessed 
those  rarest  gifts  which  make  one  a  teacher  of 
young  men. 

The  long  period  of  Mr.  Leavenworth's  ministry 
was  one  of  upheaval  and  excitement.  First  came 
the  "great  awakening,"  and  soon  afterward  the 
seven  years'  struggle  of  the  French  and  Indian 
war;  and  this  had  hardly  closed  when  the  conflict 
began  with  the  British  government,  which  ended 
in  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  when  neighbor  was 
set  against  neighbor  and  friend  against  friend.  A 
large  part  of  the  Episcopal  society,  which  had  now 
grown  to  be  quite  strong,  sided  with  the  mother 
country,  and  the  town  was  almost  equally  divided 
in  opinion.  But  there  were  sensible  men  in  both 
societies;  the  division  was  not  wholly  on  religious 
lines,  and  Mr.  Scovil,  the  Episcopal  clergyman,  was 
an  own  cousin  of  the  first  Mrs.  Leavenworth — a 
fact  which  perhaps  had  an  ameliorating  influence 
extending  beyond  their  own  families.  There  was 

*  General  Elias  W.  Leavenworth  (in  the  "  Leavenworth  Genealogy,"  p.  54 )  says: 
"Joshua  Perry  graduated  at  Yale  in  the  class  of  1775;  studied  theology  with  his 
uncle  Mark  Leavenworth,  of  Waterbury,  who  often  had  a  large  number  of  young 
men  with  him  preparing  for  the  ministry  Dr.  Brace  informs  me  that  sometimes 
there  were  fifteen  or  twenty."  The  Dr.  Brace  referred  to  is  David  Brace  of  Syra- 
cuse, N.  Y.,  a  grandson  of  the  Rev.  Joshua  Perry,  and  a  townsman  of  General 
Leavenworth. 


2o8  EARLY  AND  LATER  PASTORS. 

dissension,  friction,  and  doubtless  much  hard  talk- 
ing, but  on  the  whole,  things  went  quite  as  peace- 
fully as  could  have  been  expected.  After  the  Revo- 
lution came  the  perhaps  still  more  trying  period 
of  almost  anarchy,  so  that  nothing  was  settled  or 
sure  until  after  the  adoption  of  the  constitution 
and  the  inauguration  of  Washington  as  first  presi- 
dent, in  1789. 

What  a  half  century  for  a  man  to  have  lived 
through !  and  what  an  experience — to  have  carried 
the  burden  of  responsibility  for  the  religious,  moral, 
social,  secular  and  political  welfare  and  training  of 
two  or  three  generations,  in  such  a  time  of  turmoil 
and  unrest!  Doubtless  such  periods  develop  men 
of  courage  and  of  action.  They  are  not  favorable 
to  the  growth  of  churches.  A  cynic  might  perhaps 
say  that  the  times  which  develop  the  best  men 
make  the  poorest  Christians.  It  would  not  be  true, 
but  it  would  be  one  of  those  rather  mean  half- 
truths  which  are  more  perplexing  than  pleasant. 
To  have  successfully  carried  a  church  and  a  town 
through  such  a  period  and  maintained  the  love  and 
respect  of  the  people  implies  a  character  and  an 
ability  well  worthy  of  our  admiration  and  our  praise. 

An  obituary  notice  of  Mr.  Leavenworth,  pub- 
lished at  the  time  of  his  death,  closes  with  these 
apparently  just  and  well  considered  words: 

To  the  endearing  qualities  of  a  kind  and  affectionate  hus- 
band and  parent  were  very  apparently  united  in  this  reverend 
father  that  piety  towards  God,  that  diffusive  benevolence 
toward  men,  that  undisguised  frankness  and  dignity  of  deport- 
ment, that  persevering  faithfulness  in  office,  that  unshaken 
trust  in  the  merits  of  the  Saviour,  that  heavenly -mindedness 
and  calm  converse  with  death,  which  abundantly  evidenced  to 
all  his  acquaintance  the  child  of  God  and  the  heir  of  heaven. 


THE  REV.  DR.  ELLIOT'S  ADDRESS. 


209 


ADDRESS  BY  THE  REV.  H.  B.  ELLIOT,  D.  D. 

I  have  noticed  that  those  who  spoke  this  fore- 
noon are  mentioned  on  the  programme  as  repre- 
senting certain  bodies  from  which  they  came,  and 
as  bringing  therefore  delegated  greetings.  It  is 
not  my  privilege  to  represent  anybody  but  myself, 
and  I  therefore  bring  no  greetings  except  my  own, 
which  I  bring  most  heartily  on  this  occasion.  I 
was  grievously  disappointed  that  I  could  not  be 
present  from  the  beginning  of  the  exercises,  to  fill 
my  mind  and  heart  from  the  fulness  of  the  stream, 
rather  than  to  catch  some  of  the  rivulets.  I  can 
bring  to  you,  with  my  greetings  this  afternoon,  no 
prepared  address,  but  must  speak  almost  im- 
promptu, and  from  the  heart  rather  than  the  head. 
My  mind  has  been  so  occupied  during  the  last  few 
days  with  things  of  the  present  that  I  have  had  no 
opportunity  to  gather  up  thoughts  concerning  the 
past.  I  have  been  dwelling,  as  was  said  this  morn- 
ing, amid  the  scenes  of  a  heresy  trial.  The  words 
"  General  Assembly,"  in  the  paper  prepared  by 
Miss  Prichard,  which  was  read  this  afternoon, 
sounded  singularly  familiar  to  me  as  words  that 
have  been  heard  over  and  over  again  during  the 
last  few  days,  and  that  have  been  lingering  in  my 
mind  during  the  wakeful  hours  of  last  night's 
weariness.  But  it  was  a  different  "  assembly"  from 
that  to  which  the  writer  referred,  for  my  mind 
reverted  to  the  New  York  Presbytery  and  the  trial 
scenes  of  the  day.  And  I  wish  to  say  in  this  con- 
nection that  while  I  have  not  the  slightest  sym- 
pathy with  the  vagaries  (for  so  they  have  seemed 


2io  EARLY  AND  LATER  PASTORS. 

to  me)  which  have  issued  from  New  York  as  a 
centre  during  the  past  few  years  and  especially  the 
past  few  months,  nevertheless  I  do  not  dread  such 
occurrences  so  much  as  many  might.  The  moral 
atmosphere  needs  clearing  up  occasionally.  I 
have  confidence  that  the  light  thrown  upon  old 
truths  by  the  progress  of  divine  inspiration  in 
the  present — an  inspiration  differing  from  that 
of  the  Scriptures  in  degree  and  in  quality  but 
not  in  its  source,  coming  from  the  Holy  Ghost 
into  true  hearts — that  this  will  encourage  those 
why  are  yet  to  come  to  make  still  further  progress 
in  the  knowledge  of  that  truth  the  essential  features 
of  which  constitute  the  faith  delivered  once  for  all 
to  the  saints  ;  and  I  shall  gladly  walk  in  the  middle 
way  of  intelligent  and  devout  confidence  in  the 
word  of  our  God  which  abideth  forever,  which  is 
preached  to  you  in  the  gospel  as  it  was  proclaimed 
two  hundred  years  ago,  here  in  Waterbury,  and  has 
been  ever  since. 

Now,  my  memory  and  my  associations  are  not 
with  this  long  past  of  which  you  have  been  hear- 
ing, nor  with  the  children  of  the  mother  repre- 
sented here  in  these  tablets  upon  the  walls,  but 
they  are  with  the  present  organization,  with  the 
generation'that  has  not  altogether  passed  away,  and 
with  those  who  are  still  among  the  happy  and 
useful  living.  It  is  only  a  quarter  of  the  period 
you  are  celebrating,  almost  but  not  quite  a  quarter, 
which  my  knowledge  of  this  place  covers.  It  is 
nearly  fifty  years  since  I  came  to  this  place,  and 
was  regarded  as  a  boy  preacher.  A  lady  said  to  me 
this  afternoon,  "  When  you  came  here  you  found  a 
great  many  friends,  and  when  you  left  here  you 


THE  REV.  DR.  ELLIOTS  ADDRESS.  211 

still  had  those  friends."  If  my  memory  serves  me 
rightly,  I  can  assent  to  that  without  reserve;  I  can 
say  with  truth  that  I  left  behind  me  none  but 
friends.  It  was  the  happiest  period  of  my  Chris- 
tian and  ministerial  life.  In  responding  to  Dr. 
Anderson's  invitation  to  visit  you,  I  said  that  there 
was  no  place  in  my  memory  so  dear  to  me  as 
Waterbury.  I  cannot  think  of  it,  much  less  speak 
of  it,  without  being  so  moved  that  my  utterance 
becomes  almost  indistinct.  So  warmly,  so  gently, 
with  so  kind  appreciation  of  my  limited  powers, 
undeveloped  yet,  and  with  so  large  a  hospitality, 
did  they  entertain  me  during  the  few  years  that 
I  and  my  household  were  here  —  a  hospitality 
poured  out  lavishly  on  me  and  mine — that  it  was 
to  me  a  wonderful  expression  of  the  grace  of  God 
in  the  people  and  the  grace  of  God  to  me  personally. 
The  years  were  few,  but  they  were  full  of  spiritual 
interest.  I  cannot  but  recollect  that  many  who  are 
here  to-day  in  the  fulness  of  years  and  usefulness, 
stood  up  in  their  youth,  together  or  singly,  to  mani- 
fest their  acceptance  of  Christ  under  my  ministry. 
As  I  have  visited  here  at  different  times,  one  and 
another  has  come  to  me  with  some  grown-up  girl 
or  boy,  or  some  newly  married  couple,  and  said, 
"  Do  you  not  remember  these  ?  These  are  my  chil- 
dren whom  you  baptized  in  childhood,"  or,  "whom 
you  admitted  to  the  church."  You  can  well  con- 
ceive, then,  that  my  thoughts,  taking  hold  upon 
what  is  to  me  a  remote  and  yet  a  near  past,  are 
filled  with  satisfaction  as  I  greet  you  to-day. 

I  remember  so  well  those  who  were  officers  in  the 
church  at  that  period;  indeed,  I  could  not  possibly 
forget  them.  They  were  more  than  my  supporters 


2i2  EARLY  AND   LATER  PASTORS. 

in  my  ministry.  They  were  themselves  the  respon- 
sible workers,  under  whom  and  with  whose  con- 
stant counsel  I  labored.  They  were  men  of  mark, 
modest  but  faithful  workers,  wise  and  earnest. 
Some  of  them  were  good  looking  men,  and  others 
not  so  good  looking.  Some  were  of  ordinary  man- 
ner and  others  of  eccentric  manner,  but  their  pray- 
ers still  sound  in  my  memory  and  in  my  heart, — 
prayers  offered  in  the  lower  room,  where,  gloomy 
as  it  was,  and  oftentimes  damp  and  disagreeable, 
we  yet  gathered  with  an  unfailing  interest.  Their 
prayers  lifted  us  above  all  thought  of  their  appear- 
ance and  their  manners.  They  gathered  around 
the  young  preacher,  eager  not  for  him  but  for  his 
Master,  and  together  we  watched  the  progress  of 
affairs,  together  we  prayed  for  souls.  There  were 
times  of  special  religious  interest,  when  we  were 
aided  by  other  ministers;  and  there  were  times 
when,  after  such  aid,  the  work  of  the  Spirit  of  God 
was  visible  through  several  months,  and,  as  the 
result,  an  ingathering  of  fruit.  No  ingathering  so 
extensive  as  those  mentioned  here  as  taking  place 
in  the  early  history  of  the  church,  none  so  exten- 
sive as  some  that  have  marked  the  church  at  times 
since,  but  all  of  them  seasons  in  which  (I  think  I 
can  say  it  with  truth)  the  conversions  were  such  as 
stand  the  test  of  time.  And  so  we  walked  together 
until  weariness  of  the  flesh,  and  the  outcropping  of 
a  disease,  the  beginning  of  which  had  been  sup- 
pressed, as  I  hoped,  before  I  came,  brought  an  end 
to  my  ministry. 

I  recollect  (and  must  be  pardoned  again  if  I  men- 
tion it,  for  I  speak  not  with  forethought,  but  on 
the  impulse  of  the  moment) — I  recollect  the  meet- 


THE  REV.  DR.  ELLIOT'S  ADDRESS. 


213 


ing  in  the  room  below,  to  receive  the  paper  which 
I  had  sent  to  the  society,  asking  to  be  released.  (I 
had  already  sent  one  to  the  church,  the  other  I  sent 
according  to  due  order  to  the  society.)  I  recollect 
how  Greene  Kendrick  rose  and  said,  "  That  paper 
must  be  meant  for  me,  for  as  I  look  around  me  I 
observe  that  I  am  the  only  member  of  the  society 
present  who  is  not  a  member  of  the  church.  I  take 
that  paper  to  myself  therefore,  and  I  have  this  to 
say,  that  while  Mr.  Elliot  and  I  have  differed  on  a 
great  many  points,  there  has  never  been  a  harsh 
word  or  an  unkind  thought  between  us."  And  so 
we  parted,  compelled,  as  I  think,  by  the  providence 
of  God,  and  not  driven  away,  as  alas!  too  many 
ministers  have  been  driven,  by  dissensions  and 
oppositions,  with  bitterness  of  spirit  on  either  side. 
I  thank  God  frequently,  as  I  recall  these  scenes, 
and  I  thank  God  again  to-day,  that  I  can  thus 
speak, — not  for  my  own  sake  merely  or  chiefly,  but 
for  the  sake  of  the  people  and  for  the  honor  of 
Christ  in  them.  It  was  not  I,  my  dear  friends,  but 
your  predecessors  and  those  that  still  remain  who 
were  then  included  in  the  First  church;  it  is  to 
you  I  must  give  the  credit  of  those  years  of  har- 
mony and  spiritual  life.  May  God  bless  you  for  it, 
as  he  has  blessed  and  rewarded  those  from  among 
your  number  who  have  gone  up  on  high. 

And  now,  can  I  in  a  few  words  add  anything  that 
shall  not  be  personal  either  to  myself  or  to  you, 
but  shall  have  a  more  general  bearing  upon  such 
an  occasion  as  this  ? 

I  have  just  been  reading  a  singular  book,  a  book 
not  without  faults  and  yet  with  no  little  power, 
entitled,  "  The  Strange  Adventures  of  Phra  the  Phoeni- 


2 14  EARL  T  AND   LA  TEE  PASTORS. 

dan"  by  Edwin  Arnold,  the  son  of  Sir  Edwin 
Arnold,  the  well  known  poet  and  critic  who  is  now 
upon  our  shores.  It  relates  the  adventures  of  a 
Phoenician  merchant,  a  man  of  mighty  physical 
prowess  and  of  great  mental  capacity,  who,  long, 
long  ago,  entered  upon  a  strange  life,  or  rather,  a 
series  of  lives;  landing  upon  the  shores  of  Britain 
in  the  time  of  the  Druids,  marrying  the  queen  of 
the  country,  engaging  actively  in  the  events  of  the 
period,  dying  apparently  under  the  Druids'  sacred 
axe,  but  reviving  four  or  five  hundred  years  after- 
ward at  the  time  of  the  Roman  invasion;  mingling 
again  in  the  scenes  of  that  age,  and  again  passing 
into  unconsciousness;  reviving  in  the  time  of  the 
Normans,  to  die  apparently  and  to  live  again  in 
the  time  of  Edward  the  Third;  and  yet  again  in 
the  time  of  Elizabeth,  in  which  time  he  writes  his 
history,  and  his  long  career  really  ends.  It  is  a 
series  of  lives  in  one  life.  Glimpses  which  are 
extremely  vivid  are  given  of  British  history  dur- 
ing all  that  period,  and  through  it  all  moves  the 
spirit  of  Phra's  first  bride,  who  occasionally  reap- 
pears to  him  and  has  spiritual  converse  with  him. 
When  he  speaks  to  her  of  the  time  that  is  past,  she 
says,  "  What  is  that  word  ?  I  do  not  remember  it. 
Time?  Oh!  I  recollect;  but  to  us  these  are  epi- 
sodes; when  we  passed  away  we  left  behind  us  our 
hour-glasses  and  our  calendars.  It  is  time  no  more 
in  the  spirit  land." 

And  so,  as  we  have  been  reviewing  the  two  hun- 
dred years  of  this  church's  existence — a  period  in 
which  no  one  life  has  lived  on,  but  in  which  the 
life  of  the  church  under  its  ever  living  Master  has 
been  perpetuated,  reappearing  in  successive  gene- 


THE  REV.  DR.  BUSHNELL'S  ADDRESS.        215 

rations  and  in  the  various  scenes  of  Christian  activ- 
ity and  Christian  conquest — I  have  thought  to  my- 
self, We  have  had  glimpses  of  an  age  vital  in  its  influ- 
ence upon  Christ's  kingdom  as  represented  here  to- 
day; and  although  not  yet  in  the  spirit  world  we  can 
feel  that  this  long  age  is  after  all  but  an  episode  in 
the  great  cycles  of  eternity.  We  shall  stand  by  and 
by  where  our  hour-glasses  and  our  calendars  have  no 
place.  We  shall  stand  there  to  review  the  scenes 
which,  although  not  marked  in  their  regular  succes- 
sion as  they  are  in  earthly  histories,  are  surely  mark- 
ed in  their  importance  and  in  their  pre-eminent  sig- 
nificance as  connected  with  the  kingdom  of  Christ. 
Oh  that  we,  and  they  who  have  passed  on  before  us 
into  the  great  "  general  assembly "  of  the  church 
made  perfect  beyond  these  scenes,  may,  as  we  come 
to  that  review,  feel  and  say  from  the  heart,  "  Not 
unto  us,  O  Lord,  not  unto  us,  but  unto  thy  name 
give  glory,  for  thy  mercy  and  for  thy  truth's  sake." 


ADDRESS   BY   REV.  GEO.   BUSHNELL,   D.  D. 

It  is  entirely  contrary  to  my  judgment  that  I 
should  stand  up  here  to  prolong  these  services.  I 
think  we  have  had  about  all  we  can  carry  away.  It 
has  been  rich  and  delightful;  it  has  warmed  my 
heart  not  only  toward  the  Waterbury  of  to-day,  but 
toward  the  future  of  this  place,  and  of  other  places 
of  which  this  may  be  taken  as  a  type. 

I  ought  perhaps  to  say  that  I  have  discovered 
something  that  I  did  not  know  before  in  the  char- 
acter of  your  honored  pastor.  I  have  looked  upon 


2i6  EARLY  AND  LATER  PASTORS. 

him  always  as  a  master  of  thought,  and  my  errand 
in  Waterbury  was  to  hear  his  historical  address. 
But  I  find  that  he  is  a  master  of  men,  as  well.  Last 
Friday,  I  received  a  note  from  him,  informing  me 
of  this  meeting,  and  giving  me  an  outline  of  the 
programme.  I  told  him  in  my  reply  that  I  was  glad 
there  was  so  little  room  for  me,  that  I  should  be 
most  happy  to  come  here  and  enjoy  this  occasion, 
and  that  if  my  friends  desired  to  see  my  face  and 
hear  my  voice  I  could  offer  the  concluding  prayer, 
and  that  would  perhaps  be  enough  in  view  of  the 
full  programme  marked  out.  What  was  my  sur- 
prise, on  coming  here  yesterday,  to  see  that  I  was 
announced  for  an  address  !  But  I  have  yielded  to 
his  requirement;  I  have  come,  as  we  obey  the  great 
elemental  forces  of  society. 

I  was  not  aware  that  this  was  a  "  mother  church" 
to  such  an  extent  as  it  seems  to  be.  I  judge  from 
the  indications  on  these  walls  that  this  bishopric  is 
about  the  biggest  we  have  in  the  Congregational 
field,  and  I  am  glad  that  the  churches  included  in 
it  have  such  a  splendid  report  to  present.  We  think 
of  these  outside  churches  in  New  England  as  dry- 
ing up;  we  think  of  them  as  places  of  little  conse- 
quence; but  I  am  sure  that  no  one  can  have  heard 
the  addresses  presented  here  by  these  churches  to- 
day without  being  convinced  that  that  is  an  entire 
misapprehension.  These  churches  have  been  and 
are  sources  of  intelligence  and  power  to  the  coun- 
try, and  the  work  done  by  their  pastors  is  worth 
com  memorating. 

In  this  connection  let  me  say  that  I  expect  great 
things  from  the  historic  spirit  which  seems  to  have 
broken  out  here.  I  have  always  thought  of  Water- 


THE  REV.  DR.  BUSHNELL'S  ADDRESS.        217 

bury  as  a  busy  hive  of  industry;  I  have  thought 
of  it  in  connection  with  sounding  brass  rather  than 
with  that  sort  of  delightful  scholarship  which  goes 
back  to  the  origin  of  things,  apprehends  them,  sets 
them  in  a  clear  and  impressive  light,  and  enables 
us  to  understand  what  we  have,  and  what  we  may 
expect  to  be.  This  matter  of  history  is  beginning 
to  engage  the  attention  of  the  bright  men  of  the 
country;  and  what  materials  of  interest  we  have  ! 
Take  this  case, — the  origin,  so  distinctly  visible, 
of  the  sons  of  men  and  women  who  came  here  to 
make  a  plantation, — persons  whose  names  are 
known  and  whose  characters  can  be  traced.  Our 
history  does  not  run  back  into  mythology  or  into 
tradition;  it  is  a  clear  spring  from  the  ground, 
which  we  can  follow  until  it  reaches  the  affluent 
ocean.  If  we  will  only  be  patient,  there  is  going  to 
be  a  great  deal  of  surveying  of  beginnings,  and 
there  will  come  out  of  it  a  vast  amount  of  courage 
and  strength  for  our  people.  If  we  knew  what  was 
proper  for  us  here,  and  what  God  was  giving  us  for 
the  future,  we  should  feel  that  we  had  a  heritage 
which  we  ought  ever  to  hold  in  highest  honor,  and 
whose  lessons  we  should  most  patiently  and  faith- 
fully learn. 

One  of  the  impressions  made  on  my  mind  by 
these  services  is  that  in  this  country  we  have  to 
depend  largely,  for  the  promotion  of  religion  and 
of  good  government  among  our  people,  on  processes 
of  training.  What  we  have  seen  illustrated  in  this 
history  is  the  influence  which  came  from  the 
original  settlers,  and  which  has  been  growing  as 
families  have  multiplied  and  children  have  been 
born  unto  them,  and  the  associations  of  the  place 


2i8  EARLY  AND  LATER  PASTORS. 

have  been  gathering  about  them.  We  have  seen 
that  in  the  turbulent  times  of  the  church,  in  times 
of  great  excitement,  there  was  a  shrinking  back  on 
the  part  of  a  large  proportion  of  our  people— per- 
haps our  wisest  and  best  people — from  such  meas- 
ures as  some  were  adopting  and  such  results  as  they 
thought  were  being  secured.  I  do  not  think  that  is 
altogether  wise.  I  think  we  ought  not  to  be  afraid 
of  a  little  excitement.  It  is  better  that  the  church 
should  be  aroused,  and  the  whole  community 
stirred,  even  if  there  should  be  some  unpleasant 
consequences,  than  that  men  should  slumber  on 
undisturbed.  But  I  say  (with  the  approval,  I  doubt 
not,  of  your  judgment,  and  I  think  in  harmony 
with  our  principles  and  our  system)  that  after  all 
we  are  to  depend  chiefly  upon  those  influences 
which  we  denominate  training.  We  have  all  found 
out,  I  suppose,  where  we  received  the  best  impulses 
of  our  lives.  It  was  not  from  books;  it  was  not 
from  any  great  occasion;  it  was  from  that  faithful 
influence  which  began  to  flow  around  us  in  our  first 
conscious  moments.  It  was  this  that  stimulated 
and  guided  us  and  made  us  wise;  if  there  is  any- 
thing good  in  us,  it  came  out  of  that  faithful  process. 
Well,  then,  look  ahead  !  If  we  are  going  to  have 
training  in  religion,  it  is  coming  from  two  books, 
which  are  ultimately  one  book;  we  are  to  be 
trained  by  the  stress  and  force  of  the  truths  and 
influences  which  originate  from  the  two  revelations 
of  God.  We  are  to  be  taught  and  trained, — and  our 
children  and  all  our  people.  And  it  would  seem 
that  the  Old  Testament  has  something  to  do  with 
this  thing;  for  here  is  the  origin  of  Christianity. 
Christianity  did  not  spring  immediately  out  of  the 


THE  REV.  DR.  B USHNELL'S  ADDRESS.        219 

ground;  it  is  the  outgrowth  of  a  previous  system; 
and  the  thing  for  us  to  aim  at  is,  first  of  all,  to 
grasp  the  system  of  truth  which  in  the  ancient 
favored  nation  bore  such  fruit  and  so  wonderfully 
prepared  the  way  of  the  Lord,  and  to  use  this  in 
the  training  of  our  people,  our  legislators  and  our 
families  and  our  churches.  We  must  therefore  be 
careful  not  to  cast  discredit  on  the  Old  Testament. 
Nor  do  we  need  to.  In  order  to  satisfy  problems 
which  have  arisen,  we  need  not  believe  that  the 
revelation  of  the  law  of  God  was  made  at  the  end 
of  the  history  of  the  Jewish  people,  or  somewhere 
after  the  Babylonian  captivity,  instead  of  at  the 
beginning.  I  understand  very  well  that  moral  law 
involves,  more  or  less,  an  antecedent  growth,  and 
that  there  were  applications  of  the  law  given  by 
Moses  which  were  developed  in  after  ages;  but  I 
have  not  yet  seen  any  reason  for  putting  the  giving 
of  the  Mosaic  law  forward  to  the  time  of  the  Baby- 
lonian captivity.  When  do  you  form  laws  and  con- 
stitutions for  a  people  ?  Is  it  not  at  the  beginning  ? 
Admitting  that  a  growth  occurs  occasionally,  there 
is  something  which  enters  in  at  that  critical  stage 
when  God  has  the  people  most  in  his  power,  that 
stamps  the  character  and  rules  the  life.  Grant  that 
in  Jewish  history  there  were  developments  after- 
wards; they  may  have  been  of  the  nature  of  con- 
cessions,— the  gracious  feeling  of  God  towards  men 
in  their  weakness  and  sin.  I  do  not  think  we  ought 
to  settle  down  to  the  idea  that  we  can  turn  history 
end  for  end.  How  would  it  look,  to  turn  your  his- 
tory end  for  end  ?  How  could  we  conceive  of  it  ? 
What  would  it  amount  to?  No;  we  want  the  law 
of  God  for  the  training  of  our  people.  You  and  I 


220  EARLY  AND  LATER  PASTORS. 

needed  it  in  our  early  life;  we  had  it,  and  it  was 
good  for  us.  You  train  a  child  aright,  not  when 
you  enforce  your  own  wishes  upon  him,  but  when 
you  interpret  for  him  the  principles  of  eternal 
right,  and  get  his  young  mind  to  accept  them.  And 
the  training,  as  a  process  of  any  urgency,  ceases 
when  the  child  has  come  to  accept  these  principles, 
and  to  live  them,  and  to  govern  himself  by  them. 
He  now  issues  from  the  family  a  self -governed 
member  of  the  church,  and  a  self-governed  mem- 
ber of  a  free  state.  So,  we  cannot  afford  to  throw 
away  the  idea  that  ethical  teaching,  moral  train- 
ing, must  enter  into  the  beginnings  of  life  and  the 
origin  of  communities,  and  must  run  through  his- 
tory alongside  of  the  other  dispensation,  that  of 
the  gospel  of  Christ. 

A  word,  now,  which  I  think  has  come  to  us  while 
we  have  been  here,  in  regard  to  that  gospel  of 
Christ.  We  all  understand  that  a  great  change  has 
come  over  the  preaching  and  thinking  of  the 
church  in  these  days.  Dogmatic  preaching  is  not 
relished;  nobody  cares  to  preach  very  much  in  that 
way;  and  it  is  because  we  have  discovered  that  we 
do  not  know  half  as  much  as  we  thought  we  did, 
and  that  when  you  put  truths  into  propositional 
forms  you  do  not  add  to  their  force,  you  take  it 
away.  We  have  come  to  understand  that  the  gos- 
pel of  Jesus  Christ  is — if  I  may  so  say — a  law  of 
spiritual  life,  a  principle  of  spiritual  life;  no,  not  a 
law,  not  a  principle,  but  a  living  source  of  everlast- 
ing life  to  men.  That  is  what  gives  dignity  and 
beauty  and  power  to  the  gospel.  Now,  we  accept 
it;  all  our  thinkers  accept  this  idea;  but  are  we 
making  it  practical, — first,  in  our  own  life  and  the 


THE  REV.  DR.  B USHNELL'S  ADDRESS.        221 

life  of  the  church,  in  the  training  of  the  church, 
in  the  preaching  of  the  church  ?  Is  it  all  keyed  to 
this  new  conception  of  the  gospel  as  a  divine,  spir- 
itual life,  emanating  from  God,  flowing  over  and 
uniting  all  mankind  in  the  family  of  God  ?  I  think 
we  have  a  great  deal  yet  to  do  in  regard  to  this 
application  of  the  gospel.  It  is  not  enough  to  say 
a  man  repents;  we  want  a  repentance  that  is  unto 
life  and  flows  on  with  a  deepening  and  extending 
and  ever  refreshing  spiritual  power;  and  the  ques- 
tion is,  how  to  secure  it  ?  That  is  the  problem 
before  the  church,  and  on  this  historical  occasion 
it  is  well  to  look  at  it.  I  believe  that  the  prospects 
of  this  congregation  and  this  church,  of  this  town 
and  the  churches  here  represented,  for  the  next 
few  years  will  depend  upon  the  ability  and  the 
faithfulness  with  which  we  apply  the  gospel  as  a 
source  of  life  to  men.  If  we  fail  in  this,  it  will  be 
a  bad  failure. 

I  am  talking  too  much;  but  it  has  struck  me  with 
great  power  since  I  have  been  here,  that  in  build- 
ing up  churches  and  in  building  up  communities 
very  much  depends  upon  sympathy.  When  I  was 
a  boy  in  college,  I  had  occasion,  on  a  snowy  day  in 
winter,  to  pass  through  Waterbury  on  foot.  When 
I  reached  here  I  was  too  tired  to  go  farther,  and 
was  ill  withal;  so  I  endeavored  to  find  my  way  to 
some  tavern  or  place  of  public  entertainment.  I 
found  one,  but  they  could  not  receive  me;  and  I 
do  not  know  that  I  cared  very  much,  for  it  didn't 
look  inviting.  But  as  I  was  talking  the  matter 
over,  one  of  your  citizens  overheard  me.  Seeing 
that  I  was  in  a  strait,  he  took  me  to  his  home, 
kindly  cared  for  me,  nursed  me  in  a  little  sickness 


222  EARLY  AND  LATER  PASTORS. 

which  followed,  and  then  sent  me  on  my  way.  And 
from  that  hour  I  always  had  a  kind  heart  towards 
Waterbury.  And  so,  to-day  and  yesterday,  the 
impressions  which  have  been  liveliest  in  me  have 
been  those  that  came  from  looking  in  the  faces  of 
some  of  my  old  friends.  No  words  can  explain  it 
to  you;  you  cannot  understand  what  the  feeling  is 
until  it  springs  up  within  you;  and  it  springs  up 
quickly  enough  if  you  can  look  into  the  living  eye 
and  face  of  a  friend. 

Well,  now,  this  old  church  has  been  going  on  its 
way,  and  I  know  a  little  something  about  it.  I  was 
pastor  here  some  six  years,  and  it  wasn't  the  pleas- 
antest  part  of  my  life  either;  for  we  were  in  the 
turmoil  and  throes  of  civil  war,  and  there  was  war 
right  through  this  church.  It  was  not  violent; 
nobody  was  hurt;  but  it  was  war  all  the  time. 
There  was  no  sympathy;  there  was  a  want  of 
homogeneity  in  the  congregation,  there  were  dis- 
cords stirred  up  by  great  events.  Your  young 
daughter,  over  the  way,  started  under  very  different 
auspices.  In  that  church  there  was  homogeneity. 
The  young  men  who  came  forward  and  subscribed 
to  the  fund  for  establishing  that  church  signed,  I 
suppose,  for  freedom  and  for  peace  and  for  a  better 
chance;  and  they  probably  got  it.  But  the  fact  I 
want  to  impress  upon  your  minds  is  the  astonish- 
ing growth  of  that  church,  on  this  great  principle 
of  human  sympathy.  You  must  warm  a  congrega- 
tion into  one  spirit,  if  you  are  going  to  do  very 
much  with  it.  When  there  is  sympathy  run- 
ning from  heart  to  heart  and  eye  to  eye,  it  is  an 
easy  matter  to  preach.  Then,  words  tell,  and 
prayer  is  a  delightful  and  iiplifting  exercise. 


THE  REV.  DR.  BUSHNELL'S  ADDRESS.        223 

There  is  such  a  tremendous  waste  in  the  conflicts 
of  churches  that  we  ought  by  all  means  to  guard 
against  them,  remembering  that  a  church  is  but  a 
household  on  a  larger  scale,  and  that  if  there  be 
any  opposition  in  the  household  there  is  no  com- 
fort nor  power;  the  real  object  for  which  it  exists 
is  sacrificed. 

Let  us,  then,  take  home  to  our  hearts  from  this 
beautiful  anniversary  the  thought  that  the  gospel 
has  in  itself  an  inexhaustible  power  for  moving 
the  minds  and  hearts  of  men,  for  toning  up 
society,  for  bringing  the  most  diverse  materials 
into  accord  and  sympathy  with  one  another;  and 
let  us  apply  that  gospel,  let  us  make  it  the  study  of 
our  lives  to  develop  it,  and  so  to  instruct  the  peo- 
ple of  God. 

In  conclusion,  I  offer  my  congratulations  to  this 
beloved  pastor  and  his  flock,  on  the  success  of  this 
anniversary.  I  am  sure  it  has  been  delightful  to 
you  all,  and  is  destined  to  bear  great  fruit. 


V. 


REMINISCENCE    AND    CONGRATU- 
LATION. 


ADDRESS  BY  THE  REV.  J.  L.  R.  WYCKOFF, 

PASTOR   OF    THE    NORTH    CHURCH   IN    WOODBURY. 

As  an  observer  of  these  interesting  exercises 
during  the  past  two  days,  and  standing  just  a  little 
outside  of  the  circle  of  churches  that  have  been 
specially  represented  here,  there  are  one  or  two 
things  that  I  should  be  glad  to  say — before  I  begin. 

The  last  speaker  of  the  afternoon,  Dr.  Bushnell, 
gave  Dr.  Anderson  a  new  title  and  called  him  a 
"  master  of  men."  I  should  be  glad,  and  I  am  sure 
it  would  meet  with  your  hearty  approbation,  to  give 
him  an  additional  title,  that  of  "  master  of  ceremo- 
nies," particularly  of  bi-centennial  ceremonies.  He 
certainly  is  to  be  congratulated,  for  he  seems  to  have 
been  in  league  with  the  clouds,  and  so  has  secured 
bright  and  propitious  weather,  and  he  is  further  to 
be  congratulated,  in  that  he  has  been  permitted  to 
say,  speaking  in  the  name  of  his  church,  "  Here 
am  I,  and  all  these  children  whom  thou  hast  given 
me."  It  seems  to  me  a  very  unusual  thing  that 
exercises  of  this  sort,  involving  a  participation  on 
the  part  of  so  many,  should  have  been  carried  for- 
ward without  his  being  compelled  to  apologize  for 
a  single  absentee.  And  in  all  these  extended  exer- 
cises there  has  not  been  a  single  dissonant  note 
either  from  the  great  organ  above  us  or  from  any 
lesser  "  organ  "  on  the  platform. 

But  the  interesting  exercises  which  are  to  follow 
admonish  me  that  I  must  be  brief.  There  is  time 
simply  to  present  to  you  the  Christian  salutations 
of  the  venerable  and  historic  town  and  churches 


228      REMINISCENCE  AND  CONOR  A  TULA  TION. 

which  I  have  been  invited  to  represent,  and  to  con- 
gratulate you  upon  your  past  successes  and  your 
bright  outlook.  That  past  you  can  grasp  securely 
in  your  memory,  as  a  priceless  treasure,  and  your 
future,  as  some  one  has  humorously  said,  is  all 
before  you. 

Sunday  before  last,  the  church  of  which  I  am 
pastor  celebrated  the  seventy-fifth  anniversary  of 
its  organization,  and  the  twentieth  of  my  ministry 
to  it.  As  I  thought  of  those  seventy-five  years  of 
church  life,  it  made  me  feel  quite  venerable. 
Seventy-five  years  of  church  life  !  how  much  that 
means  of  struggle,  prayers  and  service  !  How  far 
reaching  the  results!  But  when  I  think  of  this 
church,  with  its  two  hundred  years  of  life  behind 
it,  it  makes  my  church  seem  quite  youthful.  Two 
hundred  years  of  church  life!  How  much  more  that 
means  of  faith,  self-sacrifice  and  success  ! 

It  is  not  an  easy  matter,  except  in  a  general  way, 
to  indicate  the  value  of  a  church  like  this  to  the 
community  in  which  it  is  placed.  I  have  been 
thinking,  as  these  interesting  commemorative 
services  have  been  progressing,  of  the  value  of  this 
old  church,  first,  to  the  industries  of  this  city. 

There  are  some  men,  immersed  in  the  affairs  of 
the  world,  who  seem  to  think  a  church  does  not 
amount  to  much.  To  them,  the  only  valuable  things 
are  those  that  can  be  weighed  and  measured.  The 
busy  factory,  with  its  daily  out-put  of  manufactured 
goods,  is  to  them  the  symbol  of  utility.  It  is  not  an 
easy  matter  to  make  an  inventory  of  the  total  out- 
put of  a  Christian  church  through  a  period  of  two 
hundred  years.  The  merchant,  the  manufacturer 
can  turn  to  his  shelves  or  his  wareroom,  and  there 


THE  REV.  MR.   WTCKOFF'S  ADDRESS.        229 

he  finds  the  physical  products.  He  can  put  down 
their  value,  foot  up  the  column,  and  get  the  grand 
total.  The  results  of  church  life  are  too  subtle  to 
be  caught  by  the  pen  and  transferred  to  paper.  If 
you  look  at  this  stately  and  comely  edifice,  at  the 
church  roll,  or  the  assembled  congregation,  these 
represent  only  a  part,  and  by  far  the  least  import- 
ant part,  of  her  work.  Her  work  is  chiefly  spirit- 
ual, and  yet  she  indirectly  determines  the  style  of 
architecture  for  your  homes  and  places  of  busi- 
ness. It  would  be  difficult  to  discover  one  single 
worthy  enterprise  in  which  the  helpful  influence 
of  the  church  is  not  felt.  -  Your  public  and  indus- 
trial schools,  your  cemetery,  monuments,  library, 
and  all  your  humane  and  philanthropic  institu- 
tions could  not  have  had  an  existence  without  her 
friendly  aid.  Your  industries  would  not  have  been 
so  prosperous  without  her.  Her  elevating  and 
inspiring  touch  has  been  felt  in  all  the  avenues 
of  your  busy  life. 

It  is  not  enough,  to  say  that  religion  does  not 
disqualify  a  man  for  business.  It  is  the  crown  of  all 
his  other  virtues.  It  gives  cunning  to  the  hand, 
clearness  to  the  vision,  and  strength  to  the  judg- 
ment. The  church  has  been  the  promoter  of  har- 
mony between  the  capitalist  and  the  laborer.  Uncon- 
sciously your  Christian  influence  has  pulsed  itself  in 
every  artery  and  vein  of  your  bounding  activities. 
It  is  the  Christian  spirit  of  so  many  of  your 
leading  business  men  that  has  given  so  enviable  a 
name  to  your  industries, — preserved  their  harmo- 
ny and  led  to  their  wonderful  success. 

I  have  also  been  reminded  of  what  the  church  has 
done,  secondly,  for  the  moral  character  of  your  city. 


230      REMINISCENCE  AND  CONGRATULATION. 

Waterbury  is  very  far  from  being  perfect.  If  she 
had  attained  unto  perfection,  then  might  this  ven- 
erable church  say,  with  good  old  Simeon,  "  Lord, 
now  lettest  thou  thy  servant  depart  in  peace,  for 
mine  eyes  have  seen  thy  salvation."  Nevertheless 
in  excellent  morals  and  manners  your  beautiful  city 
is  unsurpassed.  Without  the  church  it  would  have 
been  a  very  Sodom.  These  churches  have  been"  and 
still  are  as  salt  which  has  not  lost  its  savor.  A  force 
more  potent  than  your  mayor,  council  and  police 
has  been  among  you,  unrecognized  by  many,  and 
yet  it  has  been  the  promoter  of  law  and  order, — 
has  given  you  a  wide  .  reputation  for  peace  and 
quiet;  and  that  force  has  been  exerted  largely 
through  the  church.  Remove  these  churches  and 
all  that  they  stand  for,  and  very  soon  you  would 
lapse  into  barbarism. 

I  have  been  thinking,  too,  in  the  third  place,  of 
the  grand  total  and  the  wide  and  beneficent  results 
of  your  benevolent  contributions  through  all  these  years. 

While  you  have  derived  benefits  for  yourselves 
from  this  church,  you  have  not  forgotten  to  do 
good  and  to  communicate  to  others.  The  rich 
clusters  that  have  fallen  from  this  goodly  vine 
have  strengthened  and  cheered  many  other  lives. 
By  giving  your  life,  you  have  found  it  richer 
and  larger.  Many  a  desert  place  has  been  made 
to  bloom  and  smile  through  your  generous  bene- 
factions. You  have  found  it  (as  these  children 
have  come  back  to  you  and  their  heroic  struggles 
and  successes  have  been  rehearsed)  "  more  blessed 
to  give  than  to  receive." 

I  have  been  thinking,  once  more,  that  it  must  be  a 
delightful  thought  for  you  to  cherish — the  thought 


THE  REV.  MR.   WTCKOFF'S  ADDRESS.         231 

of  that  long  line  of  saints  that  this  church  has  been 
the  means  of  preparing-  for  their  reward  and  rest. 
As  you  call  to  remembrance  the  former  days,  you 
cannot  but  think  of  those  "  who  through  faith  and 
patience  have  inherited  the  promises."  The  grim 
messenger  has  come  to  all  your  homes  through 
these  years.  It  would  be  pleasant  for  you  to  go 
over  that  long  list  and  (as  you  called  their  names) 
speak  of  their  prayers,  patience  and  purpose — 
their  many  virtues  and  their  eminent  services.  This 
church  has  been  to  them  the  house  of  bread — as  the 
shelter  of  a  rock  in  a  desert  land — as  the  springs 
and  palms  of  Elim  to  their  thirsty  and  weary  souls. 

Thus,  under  God,  she  has  been  the  means  of  con- 
serving every  interest  among  you  that  was  worth 
conserving. 

In  view  then  of  your  magnificent  history,  and 
because  you  have  so  faithfully  kept  the  faith  and 
delivered  it  to  the  saints,  I  bring  to  you,  to-night, 
the  fraternal  greetings  of  ancient  Woodbury, — a 
town  that  was  settled  before  yours,  and  for  many 
years  more  important  than  any  in  all  this  region 

In  the  early  days  it  was  an  active  centre  of  trade. 
Farming  was  the  elect  and  prosperous  occupation. 
Had  we  known  of  the  present  decadence  of  the 
country  village — had  we  known  that  manufacturing 
was  to  be  the  foundation  of  future  greatness,  and 
that  the  railways  were  to  follow  the  water  courses, 
we  should  have  moved  our  town  over  into  this 
beautiful  valley.  Somewhere  in  the  race  you  have 
passed  us,  and  we*  have  been  compelled  to  con- 
tribute to  your  splendid  and  prosperous  life.  But 
we  do  not  envy  you  your  greatness  and  prosperity; 
we  rejoice  in  it. 


232      REMINISCENCE  AND  CONGRATULATION. 

Our  blood  is  in  your  veins.  A  constant  stream  of 
helpful  and  stimulating  influences  has  been  flowing 
into  your  life  to  deepen  and  broaden  the  tide  of 
your  prosperity.  Our  produce  has  come  to  your 
markets;  we  have  fed  you  with  milk,  and  should  be 
glad  to  feed  you  with  meat,  did  not  Chicago  forbid. 
As  we  come  down  into  this  valley  to  trade  with 
your  merchants  and  manufacturers,  we  say  to  our- 
selves, with  pride,  This  is  the  great  and  mighty 
Babylon  which  we  have  helped  to  build! 

I  also  bring  to  you  the  Christian  salutations  of  our 
churches  of  the  same  order — one  of  which  is  older 
than  yours.  Twenty-one  years  ago  she  celebrated 
her  two  hundredth  anniversary;  so  you  see  we  had 
reached  our  majority  before  you  were  born.  Our 
churches,  like  our  town,  have  contributed  to  your 
marvellous  development. 

During  my  ministry  of  twenty  years  in  Wood- 
bury,  thirty-five  young  men  have  gone  from  my 
parish  to  seek  employment  in  your  city,  most  of 
whom  have  come  to  you  fortified  with  Christian 
principle.  My  church  has  furnished  to  your  daugh- 
ter, here,  two  men  who  "  have  served  well  as 
deacons,"  and  "gained  to  themselves  a  good  stand- 
ing and  great  boldness  in  the  faith  which  is  in 
Christ  Jesus."  Of  not  a  few  on  the  roll  of  this 
church  it  is  their  proud  distinction  that  they  were 
born  in  Woodbury.  Our  loss  has  been  your  gain. 

As  the  representative  of  ancient  Woodbury  and 
her  two  churches,  mother  and  daughter,  dwelling 
together  in  Christian  concord,  I  ask  you  to  accept 
our  Christian  salutations  and  congratulations.  We, 
too,  have  a  deep  interest  in  your  history;  we  prize 
your  fellowship,  and  we  pray  for  your  prosperity 


THE  REV.  MR.  ZELIE'S  ADDRESS.  233 

and  peace.  May  the  streams  that  flow  from  the 
springs  among  the  hills  continue  to  make  glad  this 
Zion,  and  may  it  become  as  the  garden  of  the  Lord. 

The  Master  whom  you  have  served  so  loyally  in 
the  past  has  bidden  you  pause,  for  a  little,  and  call 
to  remembrance  the  former  days,  but  his  command 
to  you  to-night  is,  Arise  and  go  forward  to  new  con- 
flicts and  still  grander  victories.  And  his  promise 
is,  "  Lo  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  to  the  end  of  the 
days." 

The  true  and  grand  idea  of  a  church  is — a  society 
for  the  purpose  of  making  men  and  women  Christ- 
like — earth  like  heaven — the  kingdoms  of  the  world 
like  the  kingdom  of  God  ! 

May  you  understand  your  mission,  and  perform 
it! 


ADDRESS  BY  THE  REV.  J.  S.  ZELIE, 

PASTOR    OF    THE    CHURCH    IN    PLYMOUTH. 

There  seems  to  be  in  these  anniversary  times 
just  a  little  of  what  strikes  us  as  a  sigh  of  relief. 
Those  who  go  to  school  look  upon  the  drudgery 
days  as  in  a  special  sense  the  property  of  their 
teachers,  and  the  anniversary  days  as  their  own; 
and  though  they  allow  their  teachers  to  be  present, 
the  anniversary  day  is  chiefly  an  assertion  of  them- 
selves. Do  we  not  find  hidden  away  in  our  con- 
sciousness, at  this  time  and  at  all  such  times,  a 
little  of  the  elation  which  attends  a  graduation  ? 
We  address  cordial  words  to  the  memories  of  our 
teachers,  while  our  real  thoughts  are  with  our- 
selves. Which  is  the  true  spirit  of  these  memorial 


234 


REMINISCENCE  AND  CONGRATULATION. 


days  —  self-congratulation  or  self-f orgetfulness  ? 
The  latter  feeling  seems  nearer  to  the  truth,  and 
makes  us  recognize  that  these  days  do  not  belong 
to  us  as  much  as  to  those  who  have  gone  before. 
Self -congratulation  does  not  have  quite  the  true 
ring  to  it. 

If  we  are  to  congratulate  ourselves  at  all  about 
the  "good  old  days,"  let  us  congratulate  ourselves 
that  they  have  been,  rather  than  that  they  have 
ended.  To  make  these  old  divines  and  the  lay  peo- 
ple of  whom  they  were  but  the  spokesmen  seem 
more  real  to  us  than  ourselves,  to  summon  up  their 
names  and  faces  out  of  their  long  repose,  not  to 
make  them  live  over  again,  but  to  see  that  they  do 
live  over  and  over  again,  to  make  these  hours  not 
so  much  their  memorial  as  their  resurrection  and 
their  epiphany,  to  give  them  not  so  much  an  eulogy 
as  an  "All  hail,"  is  to  me  the  real  purpose  of  this 
anniversary.  We  have  not  been  dreaming,  while 
those  who  have  spoken  to  us  have  caused  to  pass 
before  our  minds  this  long  procession  of  our 
fathers.  They  are  as  real  as  they  have  seemed. 
We  speak  of  "  burying  ourselves  "  in  the  past,  but 
"living  ourselves  into  it"  is  the  expression  which 
comes  nearer  to  the  true  idea  of  history.  We  have 
not  been  made  to  have  a  clearer  vision  of  what  was, 
without  having  obtained  also  a  clearer  sight  of 
what  is.  And  when  to-night  the  benediction  falls 
upon  us,  it  will  not  be  the  benediction  of  one  man 
alone,  ending  a  dream  and  saying,  "  Here  end  the 
things  that  have  been,"  but  the  heaped  up  bless- 
ing of  all  these  beautiful  years,  and  of  all  these 
ancient  ministers  speaking  through  one  and  telling 
us  that  yesterday  and  to-day  they  have  stepped  for- 
ward with  us,  and  that  they  go  on  with  us. 


THE  REV.  MR.  ZELIE'S  ADDRESS. 


235 


How  much  real  meaning  can  these  days  have  for 
those  of  us  who  are  younger  ?  We  know  that  it  is 
not  difficult  for  these  older  ministers  and  laymen 
to  enter  into  the  spirit  of  them,  that  it  is  easy  for 
those  who  have  lived  in  these  places  and  who  have 
become  familiar  with  their  history;  but  we  natur- 
ally wonder  whether  the  younger  ones  among  us 
can  really  get  anything  out  of  the  days  except  an 
indefinite  pleasure  in  knowing  that  something 
important  is  going  on  and  that  we  are  witnesses  of 
it.  Yes,  there  is  much  for  those  who  are  young.  I 
never  came  into  a  region  where  the  past  seemed  so 
present  as  among  these  hills.  The  towns  are  as 
modern  as  others  of  the  kind,  but  there  is  a 
"  brooding "  spirit  here  which  I  have  never  felt 
elsewhere.  Other  regions,  of  traditions  as  noble, 
seem  to  have  hurried  away  faster  from  their  tradi- 
tions, but  here,  though  we  have  made  as  much  pro- 
gress, it  seems  as  if  our  past  had  stayed  more 
loyally  by  us.  The  least  familiar  of  any  here 
with  the  literal  history  of  these  churches,  I  yet  do 
not  feel  anything  like  a  stranger  to  them.  The  old 
names  still  linger,  with  scanty  facts  attached  to 
them,  but  they  are  more  than  names  to  me.  I  feel 
that  I  know  them  in  the  spirit. 

There  is  no  one  class  of  men  more  attractive  to 
me  than  the  old  New  England  divines.  We  have 
heard  much  to-day  of  what  they  did,  of  the  dates  of 
their  doings,  of  their  hardships,  their  heroisms,  but 
not  quite  so  much  as  I  should  have  liked  to  hear  of 
what  they  were.  I  had  hoped  to  hear  a  little  more 
about  their  personal  habits  and  appearance,  about 
three-cornered  hats  and  knee-buckles  and  reverend 
manners,  of  the  old  Puritan  laughter  which  came 


236      REMINISCENCE  AND  CONGRATULATION. 

from  the  depths  when  it  did  come, — for  this  gift 
God  seldom  withholds  from  the  best  of  his  ser- 
vants, and  there  must  have  been  times  when  the 
souls  of  Jeremiah  Peck  and  John  Southmayd  and 
Mark  Leavenworth,  in  spite  of  their  natural  grav- 
ity, broke  out  into  grand  and  restful  mirth.  How 
grave  the  records  of  their  doings  read,  except  for 
the  interlined  additions  of  some  lay  recorder  who 
here  and  there  leaves  us  a  narrative  of  their  wit 
and  their  oddities.  But  they  do  not  seem  ancient 
in  much  beside  dress  and  expression.  The  human 
heart  and  the  unselfish  outpouring  of  the  human 
soul  never  become  antiquities.  Words  may;  dress, 
manners  and  doctrine  may,  —  though  the  latter 
always  a  little  less  so  than  it  seems;  but  to  him 
who  has  once  realized  that  human  life,  in  any  age 
or  place,  is  the  water  of  an  eternal  fountain,  men 
never  become  antiquities. 

It  is  possible  that  our  prejudices  about  the  old 
divines  have  sprung  largely  from  the  outside 
appearance  of  their  books.  Their  literary  works 
run  into  no  new  bindings,  through  no  new  edi- 
tions. But  they  themselves  are  issued  over  and 
over,  in  the  widely  circulated  editions  of  human 
lives  which  have  caught  up  and  handed  on  their 
influence.  The  dryness  of  their  books  and  the 
richness  of  the  men  themselves  seem  strangely  at 
variance.  We  wonder  how  those  who  wrote  so 
dryly,  and  who  dealt  with  so  many  themes  which 
to  us  seem  artificial,  could  ever  have  been  very 
human  in  their  dealings  with  men.  But  they  were 
wonderfully  so,  and  human  beings  seem  to  have 
been  just  what  was  necessary  to  draw  out  their 
richness.  The  ancient  ministers  of  Plymouth  out 


THE  REV.  MR.  ZELIE'S  ADDRESS.  237 

in  the  churchyard,  the  old  worthies  of  your  church 
here,  who  have  been  brought  to  our  remembrance, 
do  not  seem  so  dead  as  some  modern  church  mem- 
bers, whose  lives  long  since  ended,  so  far  as  the 
church  is  concerned,  and  whose  works,  if  they  per- 
form any  now,  must  be  classed  as  "posthumous." 

We  can  hardly  imagine  nowadays  how  men  can 
be  helped  without  the  aid  of  church  machinery. 
Our  clerical  ancestors  knew  as  little  about  it  as  the 
apostles  did;  and  we,  with  all  our  many  different 
charities  and  methods  for  helping  men,  fall  to 
wondering,  perhaps,  if  they  ever  really  did  any- 
thing but  preach.  As  we  come  to  learn  more  about 
them  we  may  wonder  rather  if  there  was  ever 
poured  out  from  one  life  to  another  more  strong, 
abiding  vitality  than  these  men  poured  into  the 
lives  they  ministered  to.  The  humanity  and 
tenderness  for  which  we  seek  almost  in  vain  in 
their  writings,  and  which  seem  there  to  have  given 
place  to  a  kind  of  November  righteousness,  did 
shine  out  of  their  lives  in  unselfish,  unfearing 
devotion  to  the  real  needs  of  the  human  heart.  In 
the  midst  of  our  endless  committees,  societies  and 
plans,  do  we  not  long  once  in  a  while  for  the  old 
simplicity  with  which  our  ancestors  grappled  with 
human  life  at  first  hand,  and  not  through  the 
medium  of  church  machinery  ? 

They  had  their  follies,  and  we  are  all  well  posted 
in  them,  but  they  seem  to  us  different  when  we 
discover  how  vital  these  men  still  are.  The  follies 
of  these  men  were  mostly  of  such  a  kind  as  not  to 
prevent  their  staying  a  life-time  in  a  place.  The 
follies  of  the  modern  minister  are  of  a  different 
sort. 


238      REMINISCENCE  AND  CONGRATULATION. 

At  our  distance  from  the  early  theologians,  and 
on  one  of  these  occasions,  we  are  likely  to  get  a 
better  understanding  of  the  place  they  hold  in  the 
history  of  the  world's  thought.  As  we  look  back 
and  see  how  individual  they  were,  and  how  sep- 
arate from  the  general  thought  of  the  world,  it 
seems  as  if  there  was  one  thing,  much  talked  of 
now,  which  they  did  not  have,  and  that  is  the  cath- 
olic spirit.  They  appear  to  have  done  their  thinking 
without  much  regard  to  those  around  them  or  before 
them,  and  New  England  theology  seems  to  be  in  a 
little  corner  by  itself.  They  did  not  bend  or  swerve, 
but  thought  straight  on  from  point  to  point,  from 
logic  to  logic.  We  look  upon  right  thinking  as  being 
more  in  a  circle  than  a  straight  line,  and  the  Puri- 
tan thinking  seems  at  first  sight  to  have  gone  on 
too  straight,  and  to  have  run  away  from  the  world's 
thought.  But,  now  that  we  are  getting  further 
from  it  all  the  time,  that  which  at  first  looked  so 
much  like  a  straight  line  begins  to  look  more  like  a 
curve  and  we  can  see  how  the  Puritan  thought  is 
bending  into  one  of  God's  great  circles  of  truth. 

But  this  is  a  thanksgiving  service,  and  you  have 
not  been  mistaken  if  you  have  expected  the  church 
on  Plymouth  Hill  to  be  grateful  for  its  parentage. 
We  do  not  have  to  cast  about  in  our  minds  for 
things  to  be  grateful  for;  we  are  glad  to  be  derived 
from  a  church  like  this.  We  forget  our  long  strug- 
gle with  you  for  "  winter  privileges,"  and,  as  you 
desired  that  we  should  remain  in  want  of  them, I  may 
say  to  you  that  Plymouth  Hill  is  as  much  in  need  of 
"  winter-  privileges  "  as  it  ever  was,  though  of  a  dif- 
ferent sort.  You  have  honored  us ;  have  we  honored 
you  ?  The  old  Plymouth  church  is  less  to-day  than 


THE  REV.  MR.  ZELIE'8  ADDRESS. 


239 


her  children  are,  but  they  can  never  be  anything 
but  our  children.  Perhaps  our  only  superiority 
now  is  that  we  are  one  degree  nearer  of  kin  to  you. 
They  have  their  prosperities,  but  the  old  ministers 
of  Plymouth  belong  to  us,  and  we  are  content  to 
stay  by  their  graves  and  feel  that  all  of  their  spirit 
has  not  departed  from  us.  The  church  has  given 
noble  men  to  the  world,  and  is  still  raising  them, 
and  we  have  not  been  left  alone  as  much  as  some  of 
our  sisters  of  the  other  hill-tops.  As  we  come  back 
here  for  this  anniversary,  we  feel  as  if  we  had 
gained  a  coat  of  arms  and  a  noble  pedigree. 

And  I  wish  to  add  my  own  thanksgiving  to  that 
of  the  church;  for  I  have  that  for  which  to  be  per- 
sonally grateful.  The  name  of  your  church,  the 
name  of  your  minister,  was  familiar  to  me,  before  I 
came  here  to  live.  I  knew  the  church  by  sight 
before  I  ever  saw  it.  I  first  became  a  church  mem- 
ber in  a  college  to  which  this  church  gave  its  pres- 
ident, and  as  he  was  present  when  that  first  mem- 
bership was  given  me  I  feel  very  glad  to  know  that 
he  is  present  here,  when  I  receive  this  second  mem- 
bership which  you  intend,  I  am  sure,  that  all  of  us 
shall  have.  I  am  indebted  to  the  minister  of  this 
church  for  an  ordination  sermon  which  neither  my 
people  nor  myself  have  ever  forgotten,  which  has 
come  back  to  the  memories  of  some  of  us  many  a 
time  when  we  have  grown  perhaps  a  little  discour- 
aged over  the  affairs  of  the  church,  and  has  made 
us  feel  that  the  true  success  of  a  church  is  different 
from  what  we  once  thought  it  was.  I  acknowledge, 
too,  my  indebtedness  to  one  of  the  old,  old  sons 
of  this  church,  Samuel  Hopkins,  for  real  inspira- 
tions. 


240      REMINISCENCE  AND  CONGRATULATION. 

And  now  the  two  hundred  years  are  over, — as 
much  as  two  hundred  years  ever  can  be  over;  for 
two  centuries,  filled  with  loyalty  to  God  and  Christ 
and  humanity,  have  laid  hold  on  all  the  years  that 
follow  with  a  grasp  which  cannot  be  broken. 


ADDRESS  BY  FRANKLIN  CARTER,  LL.  D., 

PRESIDENT    OF    WILLIAMS    COLLEGE. 

There  is  nothing  that  attests  the  significance  of 
time  to  the  human  mind  more  than  the  celebra- 
tions of  these  latter  days.  Biography  is  not 
merely  a  series  of  events;  it  is  imperfect  unless 
we  can  fix  the  date  into  its  surroundings  and  mark 
it  with  a  figure.  History  is  not  merely  a  succes- 
sion of  developing  causes  and  effects,  not  merely  a 
combination  of  co-ordinations, — for  an  end;  we 
are  unsatisfied  unless  we  are  able  to  tell  when  the 
combination  entered  into  the  history,  unless  we 
are  able  to  tell  how  and  when  the  master  mind 
lighted  up  the  period  with  a  celestial  beauty  or 
darkened  it  with  the  horrors  and  hate  of  war. 

We  have  been  celebrating  an  event  which  lighted 
up  this  Naugatuck  valley  with  a  "  light  that  never 
was  on  sea  or  land."  We  have  been  rejoicing  that 
we,  in  our  period,  have  covered  the  end  of  the  two 
hundred  years;  we  have  been  glad  that  we  could, 
after  the  lapse  of  these  days,  come  back  here  and 
gather  around  the  old  hearthstone,  and  bless  God 
for  the  old  home.  But  many,  whose  spiritual  lives 
began  anew  in  connection  with  this  church,  have 
almost  lived  to  see  this  day  and  have  not  seen  it; 


PRESIDENT  CARTERS  ADDRESS.  241 

some  dropped  away  long  ago,  and  pathos  is  in  all 
our  hearts  for  those  who,  early  or  late,  are  not 
here  to  share  with  us  this  joy — that  they  have  not 
lived  to  see  this  day. 

My  mother's  ancestors  were  connected  with  this 
church  away  back  to  the  very  first  deacon,  and  my 
wife's  mother's  ancestors  back  to  the  first  minis- 
ters; so  that  in  my  children  is  the  blood  both  of 
the   "diaconate"   and   of   the   "priesthood."      My 
father  was  not  born  in  this  place,  but  was  here 
converted,  and  within  a  few  years  there  has  come 
into  my  possession  a  record  of  his  consecration  of 
himself  to  God  on  reaching  his  majority,  a  record 
which  never  could  have  been  written  except  for 
the  solemn  influences  of   the  Puritans.      It  takes 
one  back  to  the  days  of  Samuel  Hopkins  and  Jona- 
than Edwards.     It  reminds  me  of  the  form  of  con- 
secration  found   in   the  autobiography  of  Samuel 
Hopkins,  who  was  born  in  this  town  in  1721,  was  a 
member  of  this  church,  and  became  a  pioneer  in 
the  realm  of  thought, — so  that  when  the  Andover 
Seminary  was  formed,  it  was   formed  by  a  com- 
promise between  Calvinists  and  "  Hopkinsians," — 
leading  the  way  to  all  the  modern  liberty  and  to 
all  the  modern  conquests  of  scholarship.     The  last 
echoes  of  his  utterances  were  heard  in  the  recent 
decision  of   the  Supreme  Court   of  Massachusetts 
in  the  Andover  case,  or  later  still,  in  the  case  that 
was  decided  in  the  Presbytery  of  New  York  yester- 
day.    This  is  the  consecration  of  Samuel  Hopkins, 
dated  August  7th,  1742,  just  before  he  reached  his 
majority: 

I  call  heaven  and  earth  to  witness  that  I  now  take  the  God 
of  heaven  and  earth  for  my  God.     I  now  make  myself  over, 


242      REMINISCENCE  AND  CONGRA TULA  TION. 

with  all  that  I  have  or  ever  shall  have,  to  him.  I  now  promise 
allegiance  to  the  God  of  heaven, — that  henceforth  I  will  make 
it  my  only  business  to  serve  and  honor  him,  begging  his  gra- 
cious assistance  to  perform  my  obligations  and  to  keep  my  sol- 
emn vows  inviolate.  It  is  done.  I  am  no  more  my  own,  but  I 
give  myself  to  God,  to  be  his  forever. 

That  covenant,  written  in  1742  by  a  son  of  this 
church,  may  stand  as  a  proof  that  fifty  years  after 
this  church  was  organized  the  same  solemn  influ- 
ences pervaded  it  as  at  the  beginning.  The  coven- 
ant of  my  father,  which  is  enough  like  that  to  have 
been  modelled  upon  it,  may  stand  as  a  testimony 
that  seventy  years  ago  the  same  solemn  influences 
pervaded  this  church;  and  I  can  testify  that  up  to 
the  time  when  I  left  my  home  in  1863,  the  doctrine 
that  God  has  authority  over  every  mental  move- 
ment of  man  and  every  thought  of  man,  just  as 
surely  as  the  law  of  gravitation  has  authority  over 
every  particle  of  matter,  was  preached  from  this 
desk.  The  doctrine  of  God's  omniscience,  omni- 
presence and  sovereign  decrees  was  the  influence 
that  I  felt  in  my  boyhood. 

I  owe  the  two  ministers  who  spoke  this  after- 
noon an  incalculable  debt.  From  the  first  came 
impulses  for  good  which  I  trust  have  ever 
increased;  the  other  was  concerned  with  some  of 
the  most  solemn  events  of  my  childhood.  I  can 
remember  sitting  down  in  the  church  when  I  was 
not  yet  twelve  years  old,  wondering  and  puzzling 
my  brain  as  to  whether  I  was  one  of  the  elect.  I 
can  remember  studying  the  old  hangings  behind 
the  pulpit,  which  I  thought  must  have  a  likeness 
to  the  hangings  of  the  tabernacle,  and  wondering 
what  connection  there  could  be  between  them  and 
the  sovereignty  of  God.  I  thank  God  for  my  Puri- 


PRESIDENT  CARTER'S  ADDRESS. 


243 


tan  conscience, — though  it  has  made  me  a  great 
deal  of  trouble;  but  I  thank  him  for  that.  I  thank 
God  for  the  inheritance  from  my  father,  whom  I 
remember  rising  often  in  the  early  twilight  and 
joining  with  a  few  of  the  neighbors  in  praying  for 
the  coming  of  God's  kingdom.  I  remember  waking 
often  and  hearing  his  voice  leading  in  prayer.  I 
thank  God  for  the  solemn  influences  of  my  mother; 
how  prayerful  she  was  none  but  her  children 
knew.  I  sometimes  wonder, — if  it  had  not  been  for 
the  influence  of  one  who  was  buried  in  1861  by  the 
pastor  who  spoke  last  this  afternoon,  one  whose 
words  never  fell  in  sharp  condemnation  on  any 
body,  whose  letters,  written  in  fine  writing,  I  cher- 
ish to-day  as  more  precious  than  rubies, — I  some- 
times wonder  whether  the  real  expansiveness  and 
gentleness  of  the  gospel  would  ever  have  come  into 
my  life  but  for  her.  Some  of  you  will  remember 
her,  and  I  desire,  now  and  here,  to  acknowledge  my 
debt  to  that  sister,  and  to  say  of  her  life  that  it  was 
not  local  or  provincial,  despite  her  narrow  sur- 
roundings, but  that  she  had  the  transparency  of 
heaven,  she  had  the  depth  of  heaven,  she  had  the 
arching  tenderness  of  heaven.  From  her  I  learned, 
as  I  never  could  have  learned  from  any  one  else, 
that  which  does  not  enter  into  the  life  of  most  of  us 
and  certainly  has  not  entered  into  mine, — that  we 
are  not  to  cherish  resentment,  no  matter  what  the 
injury  is;  that  it  is  the  noble  thing,  the  Christlike 
thing,  to  forgive  whatever  comes,  and  to  cherish 
only  love  for  the  evil-doer, — a  view  of  duty  that 
was  enforced  by  her  life. 

I  remember  Judge  Bennet  Bronson,  as  he  used  to 
rise  over  in  that  corner,  in  his  blue  cape-coat,  look- 


244      REMINISCENCE  AND  CONGRATULATION. 

ing  out  from  tinder  his  shaggy  eyebrows,  standing 
during  prayer,  and  giving  the  impression  that  he 
was  the  only  one  that  knew  how  things  shoiild  be 
done;  and  I  thought  it  was  so.  He  died  when  I  was 
thirteen  years  old,  and  there  was  no  one  left  after 
he  went  away  to  stand  up  for  the  old  methods.  I 
remember  how  Deacon  Aaron  Benedict  used  to 
come  in  at  the  door  yonder,  and  take  his  muffler 
off  (he  was  always  afraid  of  sore  throat),  and  walk 
slowly  up  the  aisle;  and  after  Judge  Bronson  died 
it  seemed  to  me  that  the  dignity  and  position  of 
the  church  centred  in  him.  There  was  another  man 
— Mr.  Greene  Kendrick — who  sat  almost  opposite. 
He  was  never  a  deacon,  was  not  even  a  member 
of  the  church;  but  I  remember  at  one  time,  when 
aid  was  asked  for  the  relief  of  sufferers  in  Kansas, 
his  quoting  Scripture  so  correctly  and  in  such 
amounts  that  I  felt  that  nobody  but  a  Scotch  Cove- 
nanter or  a  New  England  Methodist  or  a  Southern 
Presbyterian  could  do  that.  Then  there  was  Mr. 
Edward  Scovill,  who  was  called  Deacon,  although 
I  believe  he  never  functionated.  His  ready,  sonor- 
ous speech  made  the  impression  on  me  as  a  boy 
that  he  was  not  afraid  of  the  minister, — which  I 
was.  One  of  my  neighbors  was  John  Stocking, 
afterwards  a  deacon,  and  I  used  to  play  with  his 
boys.  I  remember  that  at  one  time,  as  I  was 
rather  given  to  getting  up  plans  for  amusement 
and  he  thought  I  was  in  the  habit  of  leading  his 
boys  off,  he  said  to  me  he  didn't  wish  me  to  hatch 
up  any  more  new  projects.  I  thought  the  language 
rather  vigorous  and  not  altogether  proper.  I  was 
with  his  boys  one  afternoon,  when  Mr.  Under- 
wood, who  was  then  conducting  revival  meetings 


PRESIDENT  CARTERS  ADDRESS. 


245 


in  this  place,  came  down  the  street.  I  had  had 
some  conversation  with  Mr.  Underwood,  and  when 
I  saw  him  coming,  somehow  I  felt  in  awe  of  him, 
and  crept  into  an  ox-cart,  and  hid  till  he  went 
past.  I  had  not  been  doing  anything  very  bad, 
not  hatching  up  any  very  bad  project;  but  I  have 
learned  since  then,  in  my  college  life,  that  young 
men  don't  care  to  meet  those  of  whom  they  stand 
in  awe,  especially  if  they  don't  know  them  very 
well.  Then  there  was  Zenas  Cook,  and  there  was 
Benjamin  Andrews;  and  the  Browns  —  the  four 
brothers,  Philo,  William,  Augustus  and  James ; 
and  my  uncles,  Israel  Holmes  and  Samuel  J. 
Holmes.  As  I  look  back  upon  all  that  company 
now  (and  I  might  name  many  others),  it  seems 
to  me  that  this  church,  if  it  did  not  have  all 
the  brass,  certainly  had  all  the  cream  of  the  com- 
munity. 

But  I  want  to  speak  a  word  of  one  or  two  men 
whom  I  have  come  to  know  in  later  times,  who 
were  not  members  of  this  church,  but  were 
descended  from  it. 

There  on  the  wall  is  a  date  away  in  1739,  when 
the  church  at  Watertown  went  off  from  the  old 
church.  There  was  a  boy  born  in  1739,  named 
Mark  Hopkins,  who  was  a  younger  brother  of 
Samuel.  He  was  a  son  of  Timothy,  who  was  one 
of  the  "  messengers  "  when  the  church  up  the  river 
at  Plymouth  was  organized,  and  who  died  in  1749. 
At  that  time  the  elder  brother  Samuel  was  settled 
in  Housatunnuc  (now  Great  Barrington),  and  he 
took  this  boy,  ten  years  old,  up  there  to  be  with 
him,  and  fitted  him  for  college.  That  boy  became 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  lawyers  of  that 


246      REMINISCENCE  AND  CONGRATULATION. 

period.  He  was  a  member  of  the  convention  which 
was  held  in  Berkshire  county,  in  the  early  summer 
of  1774,  for  the  purpose  of  considering  what  should 
be  done  in  regard  to  the  mother  country,  and  in 
which  resolutions  were  passed  that  were  taken  up 
and  imitated  in  various  other  counties  of  Massa- 
chusetts, and  became  the  preliminary  note  of  the 
War  of  Independence.  He  died  afterwards  of 
typhoid  fever  while  in  the  service,  at  White  Plains. 
He  had  two  grandsons  whom  I  knew  well.  One  of 
them  was  the  fifth  president  of  Williams  College, 
a  man  of  majestic  presence  and  majestic  character, 
a  man  whose  endurance  might  well  bring  back  to 
our  thought  the  endurance  of  the  early  Puritans. 
I  could  hardly  help  thinking,  when  my  friend  Zelie 
(who  was  one  of  the  guard  of  honor  at  Dr.  Hop- 
kins's  funeral  in  1887,  being  of  the  last  class  at  col- 
lege that  had  the  privilege  of  his  instructions) — I 
could  hardly  help  thinking,  when  he  spoke  of  its 
being  so  difficult  to  recall  those  men,  that  he  had 
seen  one  of  them.  For  Dr.  Hopkins  represented, 
in  every  inch  of  his  body  and  in  every  inch  of  his 
mind,  the  old  Puritan  conception. 

Let  me  give  you  just  two  anecdotes  of  him;  and 
first,  to  illustrate  his  endurance.  After  his  election 
as  president  of  the  college,  having  made  up  his 
mind  that  some  knowledge  of  anatomy  and  physi- 
ology was  desirable,  he  purchased  a  manikin, 
imported  for  Dr.  Armsby  of  the  Albany  Medical 
school,  at  the  price  of  six  or  seven  hundred  dollars, 
and  gave  his  own  note  for  it,  because  the  college 
was  too  poor  to  pay  for  it.  He  made  up  his  mind 
that  the  manikin  should  pay  for  the  manikin  by 
lectures;  so  in  December,  1842,  he  started  down 


PRESIDENT  CARTERS  ADDRESS. 


247 


through  Berkshire  county  for  Stockbridge,  where 
he  was  born,  having  packed  that  manikin  in  a  box, 
and  having  laid  that  box  in  a  sleigh,  thus  filling 
the  sleigh  so  full  that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to 
sit  in  it  except  with  his  feet  hanging  outside.  He 
had  decided  to  go  down  and,  by  giving  lectures  and 
illustrating  them,  earn  money  enough  to  pay  for 
the  manikin.  That  is  the  old  Puritan,  through  and 
through. 

Now,  let  me  give  you  an  idea  of  his  sagacity  as  a 
teacher.  He  was  very  fond  of  dwelling  on  the  dif- 
ferences between  man  and  the  lower  animals.  He 
said,  one  distinction  was  that  the  lower  animals 
did  not  laugh.  A  student  who  was  fond  of  asking 
questions  raised  his  hand  and  said  to  him,  "  Dr. 
Hopkins,  I  have  a  little  dog  at  home,  and  when  I 
am  there  this  little  dog  runs  up  to  me  and  puts  his 
paws  on  my  knee,  and  looks  up  into  my  face,  and 
really,  I  think  he  laughs."  By  that  time  the  atten- 
tion of  the  class  was  somewhat  absorbed  in  this 
dialogue,  and  Dr.  Hopkins  in  a  very  benignant 
way  said,  "  When  a  man  laughs,  he  usually  laughs 
at  something;  will  you  tell  me  what  your  dog  was 
laughing  at  ? " 

One  more  illustration  of  his  endurance.  When 
death  came  to  him,  it  came  in  the  silence  of  a  June 
morning.  He  had  been  sitting  up  more  or  less 
through  the  night,  trying  to  get  breath.  As  the 
birds  were  singing  all  around  him,  he  felt  that 
there  was  a  power  going  from  him,  and  as  he  sat 
on  the  edge  of  the  bed,  erect  and  majestic,  he  said 
to  his  beloved  wife,  "  Mary,  this  must  be  death." 
In  a  moment  his  head  dropped  and  he  was  gone. 
It  has  reminded  me  of  that  striking  passage  in 
Browning, 


248      REMINISCENCE  AND  CONGRATULATION. 

I  would  hate  that  death  bandaged  my  eyes,  and  forebore, 

And  bade  me  creep  past. 
No!  let  me  taste  the  whole  of  it,  fare  like  my  peers, 

The  heroes  of  old, 
Bear  the  brunt,  in  a  minute  pay  glad  life's  arrears 

Of  pain,  darkness  and  cold. 

He  had  a  brother  who  was  equally  distinguished, 
and  I  could  tell  you  many  stories  of  him.  The 
most  remarkable  thing  about  him  was  that  as  a 
college  professor  he  had  the  most  intense  religious 
interest  in  his  pupils  and  showed  it  more  conspicu- 
ously than  any  college  professor  I  have  ever 
known.  These  two  men — the  one  an  Old  Testa- 
ment prophet,  the  other  a  reasoner  on  the  law  of 
God  and  on  its  universal  presence,  a  reconciler  of 
the  Old  Testament  and  the  New,  a  man  who  could 
persuade  into  acceptance  of  Christ — these  two  men 
did  more  for  the  honor  of  religion  in  our  colleges 
than  any  men  of  their  day.  In  their  presence  no 
student  could  despise  Christianity,  nor  could  any 
atheist,  however  aggressive,  refuse  to  acknowledge 
the  development  of  character,  as  produced  by  a 
Christian  faith,  in  these  men.  They  were  the 
grandsons  of  that  Mark  Hopkins  who  was  born 
in  1739. 

Now,  my  dear  friends,  there  have  gone  out  in 
that  way,  from  this  church,  multitudes  of  whom 
we  know  little;  but  just  as  every  atom  in  this  uni- 
verse responds  to  every  other  atom,  so  every  soul 
that  rests  its  faith  in  Christ  responds  to  every 
other  soul.  Electric  thrills  are  passing  to-day 
between  the  two  worlds,  the  living  and  the  dead, 
binding  us  all  into  closer  relations  with  those  who 
have  been,  and  those  who,  though  we  have  never 
heard  of  them,  have  received  inspiration  from  this 


PRESIDENT  CARTERS  ADDRESS.  249 

fountain,  and  have  drunk  of  that  water  of  which 
if  a  man  drink  he  shall  never  die. 

Nothing  seems  to  me  so  glorious  as  the  anniver- 
sary of  a  church.  Standing  here  and  recalling  the 
multitude  of  little  children — the  thousands  of  little 
children — that  have  been  baptized  here  "  into  the 
name  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,"  and  many  of  us  among  them;  remem- 
bering those  who  have  here  stood  up  and  professed 
Christ,  generally  in  youth,  but  sometimes  in 
maturer  life,  and  occasionally  in  old  age  on  the 
verge  of  death;  remembering  those  who  in  their 
sick  rooms  have  illustrated  the  dignity  of  patience 
and  endurance,  the  peaceable  fruit  of  righteous- 
ness; remembering  the  multitude  of  those  who 
have  been  buried  with  the  prayer  of  faith,  and  in 
whose  hearts  and  in  the  hearts  of  whose  friends 
the  hope  of  the  resurrection  was  kindled  by  the 
ministers  of  this  pulpit;  recalling  how  in  battle- 
fields, in  high  and  lowly  places,  self-denials  have 
been  made  for  the  Master,  may  we  not  feel  our 
hearts  kindled  anew  with  the  thought  that  Chris- 
tianity is  not  dead,  that  Christ  is  not  dead;  that 
he  was  dead,  but  is  alive  forevermore  ? 

I  wish  to  express  my  great  pleasure  at  being  per- 
mitted to  come  back  here  and  acknowledge  my 
recognition  of  obligation  to  the  ministry  of  this 
church,  and  to  the  influences  that  surrounded  me 
as  a  boy.  The  old  house  where  I  was  born  has 
long  since  disappeared;  the  church  in  which  I  was 
married  has  given  place  to  this  edifice;  but  the 
springs  of  life  have  been  touched  in  me  here,  as 
they  have  in  every  one  of  you,  by  these  exercises 
during  the  last  day  or  two.  The  follies,  the 


250      REMINISCENCE  AND  CONGRATULATION. 

anxieties,  the  hopes  of  my  boyhood,  have  come 
back  to  me,  and  looking  through  the  tangled  web 
of  life  I  have  felt  the  goodness  of  God. 

It  is  no  small  thing  for  you  or  me  or  any  of  us 
here,  that  we  were  identified  with  those  sturdy 
pioneers  who  built  up  the  business  of  this  city.  It 
is  no  evil  fortune  that  we  have  been  identified  with 
those  men  of  thrift,  far  sighted  and  shrewd,  who 
stretched  their  vision  out  into  the  illimitable  and 
up  into  the  infinite.  It  is  no  small  thing  to  be 
grateful  to  God  for,  that  we  have  inherited  the 
faith  and  the  endurance  and  the  thought  of  those 
men;  we  are  better  men,  and  have  done  our  work 
better,  for  having  entered  into  their  labors.  Let 
us  see  to  it  that  the  granite  which  they  laid  does 
not  become  in  our  structure  pudding-stone.  Let  us 
remember  that  our  problems  are  as  difficult  as 
theirs,  and  that  we  have  need  of  the  same  sense  of 
nearness  to  God  which  they  had.  Is  it  not  enough 

That  more  and  more  a  providence 

Of  love  is  understood, 
Making  the  springs  of  time  and  sense 

Sweet  with  eternal  good; 

That  death  seems  but  a  covered  way 

Which  opens  into  light, 
Wherein  no  blinded  child  can  stray 

Beyond  the  Father's  sight; 

That  care  and  trial  seem  at  last, 

Through  memory's  sunset  air, 
Like  mountain-ranges  overpast, 

In  purple  distance  fair; 

That  all  the  jarring  notes  of  life 

Seem  blending  in  a  psalm, 
And  all  the  angles  of  its  strife 

Slow  rounding  into  calm. 


ADDENDA. 


ADDENDA. 


I. 

In  response  to  the  circular  sent  out  before  the  bi- 
centennial celebration,  letters  were  received  which 
might  well  be  reproduced  in  full.  A  few  extracts 
are  all  that  can  now  be  given. 

The  Rev.  A.  W.  Hazen,  D.  D.,  pastor  of  the  First 
church  in  Middletown,  wrote  as  follows  : 

The  church  to  which  I  minister  was  organized  on  the/our f  A 
of  November,  1668.  It  was  therefore  twenty-three  years  of 
age  when  yours  was  formed.  Still,  we  are  glad  to  recognize 
you  as  born  in  the  same  century  with  us!  Since  institutions 
like  these  venerable  churches  took  their  rise  so  long  ago,  we 
must  not  claim  that  everything  beneficent  dates  from  the  nine- 
teenth century. 

I  trust  your  honored  church  may  receive  from  the  coming 
festivities  a  fresh  impulse  which  it  shall  feel  in  all  the  next 
hundred  years.  May  the  Holy  Spirit  abide  in  the  church  and 
its  ministry,  to  make  Christ  a  vivid  reality  therein,  to  the  end 
of  the  ages. 

Mr.  J.  H.  Morrow  wrote  from  Rialto,  California: 

Distance  of  course  makes  it  impossible  for  us  to  be  with  the 
First  church  in  the  joyful  celebration  of  November  4th  and 
5th.  But  I  can  assure  you  that  upon  the  dates  mentioned  our 
minds  and  hearts  will  dwell  pleasantly  upon  the  events  taking 
place  in  our  old  New  England  home,  across  the  continent. 

....  We  pray  for  the  old  First  church  of  Waterbury  a 
continuance  into  the  coming  centuries  of  the  career  of  Christian 
usefulness  it  entered  upon  two  hundred  years  ago. 


254  ADDENDA. 

From  a  widely  known  pastor  in  Bath,  Maine, 
whose  pulpit  he  "supplied  "  for  three  months  just 
before  his  settlement  in  Waterbury,  Dr.  Anderson 
received  a  letter  full  of  reminiscence  and  affection, 
a  part  of  which  follows: 

I  tender  my  hearty  thanks  for  a  programme  of  the  proposed 
exercises  of  the  bi-centennial  anniversary  of  the  founding  of 
your  church,  and  regret  that  I  am  not  able  to  be  "  there  to  see  " 
and  hear,  and  eat  sandwiches.  I  will  thank  you  again,  if  it 
should  be  practicable  for  you  to  send  me  a  copy  of  your  dis- 
course to  be  then  delivered,  and  also  other  literature  connected 
with  the  occasion 

I  am  now  an  "  old  chap  "  of  more  than  seventy-two  years, 
and  in  very  feeble  health  ....  Still,  though  profoundly 
unworthy,  I  have  a  good  hope  of  heaven,  and  ten  thousand 
daily  mercies  and  comforts,  and,  as  Mrs.  Stowe  once  wrote  to 
me  about  herself  and  husband,  "  an  angel  coming  over  the 
river  on  the  banks  of  which  I  am  camping,  bringing  once  in  a 
while  a  message  of  love." 

I  trust  you  are  "  strong  in  the  Lord  and  in  the  power  of  his 
might."  How  wonderfully  things  hold  out  and  live  in  Connec- 
ticut! I  hope  you  will  live  to  celebrate  the  fiftieth  anniversary 
of  your  pastorate,  and  then,  as  soon  as  God  shall  see  best, 
gather  up  your  feet  and  other  traps,  and  march  on  to  glory. 
Yours  affectionately,  even  to  the  end, 

JOHN  O.  FISKE. 

The  Rev.  C.  F.  Bradley,  formerly  of  Birming- 
ham, Conn.,  wrote  as  follows  from  Quincy,  Illinois: 

Your  circular  recalls  to  me  many  pleasant  memories  of  the 
Naugatuck  Valley  Association,  and  makes  me  wish  I  could  be 
present  at  your  commemorative  festival.  I  congratulate  the 
old  First  church  on  having  attained  to  the  dignity  of  a  venera- 
ble "mother  in  Israel."  Now,  if  she  carries  a  youthful  brain 
on  her  shoulders,  alert  to  the  struggles  and  issues  of  the  com- 
ing twentieth  century,  if  her  heart  glows  with  the  enthusiasm  of 
humanity  and  human  brotherhood,  she  will  not  have  lived  two 
hundred  years  in  vain.  I  wish  her  another  two  centuries  of 


LETTERS  FROM  ABSENT  FRIENDS.  255 

hard  work  to  make  mankind  nobler  and  happier, — by  which 
time  (let  us  hope)  factory  and  shop  and  fireside  will  have 
become  temples  of  religion. 

The  Rev.  Isaac  Jennings,  of  Elmira,  N.  Y.,  who 
was  ordained  to  the  ministry  by  the  First  church, 
in  acknowledging  the  invitation  sent  to  him,  said: 

I  recall  with  vividness  many,  if  not  all  of  the  persons  whose 
names  are  attached  to  the  letter  which  has  found  its  way  to 
my  hands.  To  meet  them  and  shake  hands  once  more  on  this 
side  would  be  a  pleasure  to  me.  I  confess  that  some  names 
which  I  might  reasonably  have  expected  to  see  on  this  list  are 
not  there.  I  infer  that  they  have  joined  the  silent  majority. 
There  are  probably  more  on  that  roll  than  there  are  of  those 
who  will  answer  when  the  roll  of  the  living  is  called;  and  if 
spirits  take  an  interest  in  human  affairs  they  will  be  interested 
spectators  of  your  joyful  occasion.  We  may  hope  that  when 
time  is  done,  and  progress  is  no  more  measured  by  centennials, 
the  companies  and  regiments  which  shall  gather,  bringing  with 
them  the  banner  of  the  old  First  church,  will  present  a  full 
muster,  and  raise  a  glorious  cheer  in  honor  of  Him  who  gave 
his  blood  for  the  whole  church. 

One  letter  we  give  in  full.  It  was  written  on  the 
2nd  of  November,  by  the  venerable  Israel  Coe,  a 
member,  at  the  time,  of  the  Second  Congregational 
church.  It  was  brief,  and,  notwithstanding  its 
accurate  and  beautiful  chirography,  indicated 
increasing  weakness.  Mr.  Coe  died  on  the  i8th  of 
December,  1891,  four  days  after  his  ninety-seventh 
birthday.  He  says  : 

I  was  a  member  of  the  First  Congregational  church  of 
Waterbury  thirteen  years — from  1821  to  1834.  The  Rev.  Mr. 
Crane  was  the  pastor  when  I  came  to  Waterbury.  The  Rev. 
Joel  R.  Arnold  followed  Mr.  Crane. 

As  there  was  no  provision  for  lighting  the  church,  prayer 
meetings  were  held  in  the  school-houses  lighted  by  candles  car- 
ried in  for  the  occasion.  I  procured  lamps,  to  be  held  on  the 


256  ADDENDA. 

pillars  of  the  church  (I  think  in  1829),  and  Deacon  Brown  put 
up  the  hooks.  I  sang  in  the  choir. 

I  have  lived  almost  half  the  time  you  are  to  celebrate.  I  was 
born  in  Goshen,  the  i4th  of  December,  1794. 

What  I  have  written  is  of  little  importance.  If  I  can  furnish 
any  other  facts,  it  will  afford  me  pleasure. 

With  much  esteem,  truly  yours, 

ISRAEL  COE. 

In  such  men  as  Israel  Coe,  and  Tertius  D.  Potter 
of  Thomaston  (whose  death,  since  the  bi-centennial 
celebration,  is  referred  to  on  page  164),  the  divine 
word  spoken  through  the  psalmist  is  illustrated, 
to-day  no  less  than  in  the  days  of  old  : 

With  long  life  will  I  satisfy  him, 
And  show  him  my  salvation. 


RELICS  OF  THE  DEAD.  257 


II. 

In  a  foot-note  on  page  7  of  this  volume  a  "  fuller 
statement "  is  promised  concerning  the  disinter- 
ment  of  the  remains  of  the  early  Waterbury  pas- 
tors, in  connection  with  the  abandonment  of  the 
Grand  street  burying  ground.  This  promise  may 
be  fulfilled,  in  part  at  least,  by  republishing  here 
an  article  on  "  The  Grave  of  John  Southmayd," 
published  in  the  "  Waterbury  American  "  of  April 
25th,  1891,  the  occasion  of  which  was  a  statement, 
somewhat  carelessly  worded,  that  had  appeared  in 
one  of  the  local  papers  in  reference  to  the  disinter- 
ment  of  John  Southmayd's  remains.  The  article 
is  reproduced  as  written,  except  that  a  paragraph 
giving  the  main  dates  in  Mr.  Southmayd's  life  is 
omitted. 

THE  GRAVE  OF  JOHN  SOUTHMAYD. 

Among  the  numerous  gravestones  of  the  Grand  street  bury- 
ing ground  there  are  a  few  that  bear  names  which  must  always 
hold  a  conspicuous  place  in  the  history  of  the  town.  The  most 
noteworthy  of  all  are  the  stones  which  mark  the  graves  of  the 
Rev.  John  Southmayd,  the  second  pastor  of  the  town,  the  Rev. 
Mark  Leavenworth,  the  third  pastor,  and  Thomas  Judd,  the 
first  deacon.  So  closely  related  were  these  men  to  the  early 
life  of  this  community  and  especially  of  the  old  First  church, 
that  as  soon  as  the  abandonment  of  the  Grand  street  cemetery 
was  seriously  proposed  I  formed  the  purpose  of  having  these 
gravestones  transferred  to  some  appropriate  place  in  the  pres- 
ent yard  of  the  First  church.  I  had  consulted  with  some  of 
the  descendants  of  these  men  in  regard  to  the  matter,  and  it 
was  agreed  that  no  disposition  of  these  visible  memorials  of 


258  ADDENDA. 

them  could  be  more  appropriate  than  that  which  I  proposed. 
Partly  with  a  view  to  this  transfer,  the  headstone  marking  the 
grave  of  the  Rev.  John  Southmayd  had  already  been  removed, 
and  a  duplicate  copy  of  it  was  being  made  at  the  expense  of 
one  of  his  descendants. 

What  was  done  yesterday  at  the  burying  ground,  under  my 
supervision,  was  in  futher  development  of  the  original  pur- 
pose. When  I  found  that  the  gravestones  were  being  buried 
out  of  sight,  and  that,  notwithstanding  the  facilities  for  subse- 
quent identification  furnished  by  Mr.  S.  M.  Judd's  map,  the 
graves  of  the  notable  men  of  the  town,  as  well  as  those  of  the 
obscure,  must  practically  disappear  forever,  the  question  arose 
in  my  mind  whether,  after  the  lapse  of  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
six  years,  anything  might  possibly  remain  of  the  mortal  part 
of  the  Rev.  John  Southmayd.  It  seemed  to  me  that  if  there 
was  anything  to  be  removed,  there  could  be  no  better  time  than 
the  present  for  preserving  and  transferring  it.  Accordingly, 
with  the  authority  of  the  committee  in  charge,  and  in  the  pres- 
ence of  Mayor  Baldwin  and  myself  and  one  or  two  others,  the 
grave  was  reverently  opened.  No  trace  of  a  coffin  was  discov- 
ered, but  the  cranium  and  the  large  bones  of  the  skeleton  were 
found  in  a  good  state  of  preservation,  and  also  numerous  small 
bones.  These  were  carefully  placed  in  a  new  box  and  con- 
veyed to  the  parsonage  on  Leavenworth  street,  where  they 
will  be  cared  for  until  the  time  of  the  bi-centennial  celebration 
of  the  organization1  of  the  First  church,  next  autumn. 

I  should  infer  from  the  bones  exhumed  yesterday  that  Mr. 
Southmayd  was  a  large  man  with  a  head  of  moderate  size. 
The  forehead  was  not  high,  and  the  head  was  unusually  long 
from  front  to  rear. 

But  whatever  his  physical  frame  and  his  external  appearance 
may  have  been,  he  was  certainly  a  man  of  note  in  the  commu- 
nity, a  fine  representative  of  the  scholarship  of  the  time  amidst 
the  plain  and  hard-working  people  of  early  Waterbury,  and  a 
fountain  of  good  influence  through  many  years 

Among  the  few  manuscript  relics  pertaining  to  our  earlier 
history  as  a  town,  one  of  the  most  interesting  is  a  dilapidated 
volume,  at  present  in  my  possession,  containing  Mr.  South- 
mayd's  notes  of  sermons  heard  by  him  while  a  student  at  Har- 
vard College. 


RELICS  OF  THE  DEAD. 


259 


It  seems  to  me  very  desirable  that  the  remains  of  this  emi- 
nent and  excellent  man — "relics"  of  one  of  our  Protestant 
saints — and  the  headstone  which  has  marked  his  grave  for  so 
long  a  period,  should  for  the  future  occupy  some  fitting  position 
in  the  church  yard  of  the  church  of  which  he  was  for  thirty- 
seven  years  the  minister. 

JOSEPH  ANDERSON. 

Waterbury,  April  2$th,  1891. 

A  careful  examination  of  several  of  the  skeletons 
exhumed  at  the  Grand  street  burying  ground  was 
made  by  Walter  H.  Holmes,  M.  D.,  of  Waterbury, 
who  reported  the  result  of  his  investigations  and 
comparisons  in  an -article  entitled  "The  Condition 
of  Bodies  Long  Buried,"  which  was  published  in 
"  The  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal, "  of 
July  23d,  1891.  The  account  of  the  condition  of  Mr. 
Southmayd's  remains  is  illustrated  by  engravings 
in  which  the  cranium  of  the  Waterbury  pastor  is 
placed  alongside  of  that  of  a  supposed  "  Mound 
Builder  "  of  the  Mississippi  valley.  Dr.  Holmes's 
description — omitting  what  is  too  technical  for  the 
"  general  reader" — is  as  follows: 

Another  skeleton  was  that  of  a  minister,  eighty  years  of  age, 
who  had  been  buried  for  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  years,  and 
who  is  said  to  have  been  the  principal  man  in  the  town  dur- 
ing his  life.  The  skull  and  many  of  the  long  bones,  especial- 
ly the  femora  and  humeri  and  many  of  the  vertebrae,  were 
in  most  excellent  preservation.  The  skull  was  perfect,  even 
the  delicate  turbinated  bones  and  thin  walls  of  the  orbits  being 
whole.  The  skull  is  a  remarkable  one,  and  is  shown  [in  the 
engravings]  from  two  points  of  view,— the  skull  of  a  "  Mound 
Builder  "  from  the  west  being  shown  by  its  side  for  the  sake  of 
the  contrast.  It  will  be  seen  at  once  that  the  "  Mound  Builder's  " 
is  an  extreme  example  of  the  brachycephalic  type,  and  the  white 
man's  of  the  dolichocephalic.  The  extreme  length  backwards 
from  the  foramen  magnum  is  remarkable,  by  far  the  greater 
part  of  the  occipital  bone  being  nearly  horizontal,  and  taking  a 


INDEX. 


INDEX. 


Abandoned    farms,    in    Pros- 
pect, 161. 
in  Wolcott,  138. 

Abbott,  A.  F.,  history  of 
Methodism  by,  71,  «. 

Absent  ones  remembered,  240, 
241. 

American,  Waterbury,  arti- 
cles in,  20,  21,  71,  #.,  74, 
».,  102,  n.,  162,  n.,  257- 

259- 

Anderson,  Rev.  Joseph,  ac- 
count of  celebration  by, 

3-17- 

address  by,  57-59. 
historical  data  by,  18-20. 
historical  discourse  by,  25- 

54- 
letter  by,   on  Southmayd's 

grave,  257-259. 
memorial  hymn  by,  14. 
pastorate  of,  20,  52,  63. 
sketches    of    churches    by, 
131-136,  148-153,  165-170. 
Antagonisms,      religious,     58 

and  «.,  60,  65. 

in  the  war,  47,  48,  207,  208. 
Anthem   composed  by  A.  S. 

Gibson,  13. 
Anti-slavery  agitation,  early, 

204. 

in  Wolcott,  140. 
Apostle    of    Plymouth,    Rev. 
Mr.  Todd,  128. 


Area  of  Mattatuck,  19,  69. 
Arms.  Rev.  W.  P.,  at  Terry- 

ville,  167. 
Arnold,  Rev.  J.  R.,  pastorate 

of,  20. 
Association,    New   Haven,  of 

ministers,  42. 
ordains  Mr.  Todd,  119. 
Atwater,      Rev.      Jason,     at 

Waterbury,  20. 
at  Middlebury,  155. 
Avery,  Rev.  W.  P.,  paper  by, 

153-160. 

Baker,  F.  C.,  at  the  celebra- 
tion, 10. 

Baker,  M.  C.,  song  by,  14. 
Baptists,    Congregational  an- 
cestry of,  65. 
greetings  from,  63,  67. 
hard  to  "  represent,"  64. 
in  Waterbury,  53,  63-68. 
prejudice  against,  65. 
very  democratic,  64. 
Beckwith  Rev.  E.  G.,  pastor- 
ate of,  74. 

Bell  in  third  meeting  house, 
use  of,  voted  to  Episcopal 
society,  49. 

Bellamy  Rev.  Joseph,  82,  130. 
Benedict,    Dea.   Aaron,  from 

Middlebury,  157. 
position  in  First  church,  244. 
Benedict,     Rev.      Henry,     at 
Waterbury,  20. 


266 


INDEX. 


Berkeley,  Bishop,  scholarship 

established  by,  197,  198. 
Bible    names    of    persons    in 

Prospect,  161. 
Birthday      of      First    church 

recognized,  20-22. 
true  date  of,  3,  18. 
Blackman,   Rev.    W.    P.,    at 

Naugatuck,  141,  142,  145, 

146. 
Blakesley,  Rev.  Linus,  raised 

up  in  Terryville,  168. 
Boston   Medical    Journal    on 

John     Southmayd's    cra- 
nium, 259. 
Boy's  thoughts    of  theology, 

242. 
Bradley,    Rev.  C.    F.,   letter 

from,  254. 

Brass  industry,  origin  of,  50. 
Briggs  trial  in  New  York,  209. 
Bronson,  Dea.  E.  L.,  from 

Middlebury,  157. 
portraits  collected  by,  6. 
Bronson,  Dea.  Isaac,  of  Wol- 

cott,  139. 
Bronson,    Dea.    Leonard,    of 

Middlebury,  157. 
Bronson,  Judge  Bennet,  243, 

244. 
Bronson  Library,   origin    of, 

157. 
Bronson,  Silas,  a  Middlebury 

man,  157. 
Brotherhood  of  the  churches, 

58,  61,  66-68,  71,  94-99. 
Brown,  "Bishop"  James,  21. 
Brown  brothers,  245. 
Brownson,    Rev.    David,    at 

Oxford,  134. 


Bryan,  Rev.  G.  A.,  raised  up 

in  Waterbury,  9. 
Bugbee,    Rev.    R.    G.,    paper 

by,  163-165. 

Burgess   Rev.    J.  S.,  at  Rey- 
nolds Bridge,  170. 
death  of,  170. 
Burying  ground  on  Grand  st. 

abandoned,  7. 

disinterments  at,  7,  257-260. 
headstones  from,  7,  8. 
Bushnell,     Dr.     George,     ad- 
dress by,  215-223. 
pastorate  of,  20,  222. 
Camp,  Rev.  J.  E.,  at  North- 
field,  148-151. 
anecdote  of,  151. 
Card-playing,   etc.,  forbidden 

in  Prospect,  162. 
Carter,  Dea.  P.  W.,  covenant 

by,  241,  242. 

Carter,    Pres.    Franklin,    ad- 
dress by,  240-250. 
ancestry  of,  241. 
theology  of,  in  boyhood,  242. 
Catechising    in    Middlebury, 

158. 

Celebration,  bi-centennial,  ac- 
count of,  3-17. 
churches  invited  to,  4,  5. 
collation  at,  14. 
committees  for,  3,  4. 
decorations  of  church  at,  5  -7. 
expenses  of,  17. 
first  public  mention  of,  3. 
letter  inviting  to,  4. 
participants  in,  9-13. 
program  of,  9-13. 
visitors  at,  15-17. 
voted  by  church,  3. 


INDEX. 


267 


Celebrations,  for  the  young, 

235- 

true  glory  of,  249. 
make  history  vivid,  68. 
significance  of,  240. 
spirit  of,  233,  234. 
true  purpose  of,  234. 
Centres  of  population  in  Ply- 
mouth, 19,  166. 
Chilian  war-cloud  in  1891,  89. 
Choir  of  First  church,  14. 
Christian  Endeavor  society  an 
expression    of    Christian 
unity,  67. 

Christian  union,  52,  53,  67. 
Church  and  state  one,  60. 

separation  of,  48. 
Churches  before  Farmington, 

18. 

before  Waterbury,  18. 
derived  from  Waterbury,  19. 
gradual  maturing  of,  70. 
not  Congregational,  20. 
of  Connecticut,  the  early,  a 

homogeneous  body,  95. 
of  to-day  progressive,  65. 
Church  grievances  settled  in 

Middlebury,  158. 
Churchill,  Rev.  John,  at  Ox- 
ford, 135. 
Church    members,  names    of 

first,  34. 
Clark,  Thomas,  headstone  of,  7. 

a  deacon,  8,  n. 
Clergy  of  the  Episcopal  church 

trained  elsewhere,  61. 
Coe,  Israel,  letter  from,  255. 
death  of,  255. 

first  church  lamps  procured 
by,  255. 


Collation,  guests  at,  14-17. 
Colonization  of  churches  op- 
posed. 57,  101,  109-114. 
Colony  of  New  Haven  united 

to  Connecticut,  180. 
Colony  school  at  New  Haven, 

177-180. 
Columbia  society.  19,  160-162. 

original  map  of,  161. 
Committee  of  General  Assem- 
bly   to    visit    Plymouth, 

121,  122. 

to  locate  meeting  house,  123. 
Common  fence,    building  of, 

187. 

Concert  of  prayer  in  1795,  107. 
Conferences  of  the  churches, 

98. 

Consociations,  96. 
Cook,    Henry,  first  settler  in 

Plymouth,  104. 
Countryman,    Rev.  Franklin, 

at  Prospect,  162. 
centennial      discourse     by, 

162,  n. 
Country    towns,    problem   of 

the,  99. 
Courtship  of    Mark    Leaven- 

worth,  85-88. 

Covenants  with  God,  241,  242. 
Crane,  Rev.  Daniel,  pastorate 

of,  20. 
Crania  of  Waterbury  pastors, 

259,  260. 
Date,  exact,   of  organization 

of  First  church,  18,21. 
Daughter  churches,  delegates 

from,  15-17. 
list  of.  19. 
membership  of,  20. 


268 


INDEX. 


Davenport,  Rev.  J.  G.,  hymn 

by,  90. 

pastorate  of,  75. 
poem  by,  76-90. 
Day,   Rev.    H.  N.,  pastorate 

of,  20. 

Deacons  at  Naugatuck,  146. 
at  Watertown,  list  of,  105 . 
of  Second  church,  73. 
Decay  of  the  ancient  type  of 

life,  98. 
Declensions,  religious,  31,  32, 

48. 
Decorations     at    celebration, 

5-7,  57- 
DeForest,  Benjamin,  jr.,  fund 

enlarged  by,  106. 
Dickerman,  Rev.  G.  S.,  12. 
Dickinson,     Rev.     J.     S.,    at 

Northfield,  151. 
Dimensions,  original,  of  town, 

35- 
Discipline  in  the  Watertown 

church,  106. 
Diseases    prevailing    in    i8th 

century,  107. 
Disinterments,  7,    8,  80,  257- 

261. 

Disintegration,  era  of,  43,  192. 
Dissent  in  Waterbury,  43-45. 

in  Northbury,  124. 
Doctrine  and  life,  62. 
in  old  times,  83. 
versus  love,  84. 
Dudley,  Mrs.  Lucy  B.,  8,  n. 
Eagle  Rock  church,  Reynolds 

Bridge,  19. 
sketch  of,  169,  170. 
Easton,  Rev.  D.  A.,  at  Nauga- 
tuck, 145. 


Eggleston,    Rev.    A.   C.,  ad- 
dress by,  68-71. 
Elliot,  Dr.  H.  B.,  address  by, 

209-215. 

pastorate  of,  20,  210-213. 
Elsdon,  Rev.  W.  P.,  address 

by,  63-68. 

Elton  Dr.    Samuel,  describes 
Mark  Leavenworth,   206. 
Emerson's  hymn,  41. 
Emigration  from  Middlebury, 

156,  157- 

from  Prospect,  160,  161. 
from     Wolcott,     137,     138, 

141. 

from  Woodbury.  232. 
of  early  proprietors,  39. 
to  New  Jersey,  180. 
Episcopacy  in  Waterbury,  44, 

45,  49,  53,  59-63,  194,  195, 

20 1,  202,  207. 
profits  by  revival  excesses, 

46. 

in  Wolcott,  140. 
Episcopalians  brought  up  in 

other  folds,  61. 
Era    in    which    First    church 

originated,  25,  38,  39. 
of  frontier  missions,  37,  49. 
of  renewed  prosperity,   48, 

49,  50,  51- 

Establishment,   an    ecclesias- 
tical, in   Connecticut,  42. 
Ex-pastors  now  living,  20. 

addresses  by,  209-223. 
Expenses  of  celebration,  17. 
Farmingbury,  19,  136-141. 
Farmington,  life  in,  described, 

29,  30. 
settled,  25,  27. 


INDEX. 


269 


Farmington  church,  mother  of 
Waterbury  church,  4,  18, 
29,  30. 

sketch  of,  93-99. 
Fellowship  of    the    churches, 

95.  97- 
First  church  and   Rev.  John 

Read,  184,  185. 
attitude  of,  toward  dissent- 
ers, 60. 
authorized       by       General 

Court,  33. 

history  of,  18,  20,  25-54. 
in  New  Haven  association, 

42. 
organized  when,    3,  18,  20, 

33;  how,  33,  34. 
pastors  of,  20. 
First  settlers,  names  of,  21. 
First  society,  41. 
Fiske,    Dr.    John    O.,     letter 

from,  254. 
Ford,      Barnabas,      dwelling 

house  of,  in. 

first  clerk  of  Northbury,  117. 
Foreign  element  in  Thomas- 
ton  church. 164. 
Foreign     missionary   society, 

Forty-sixth  psalm,  Dudley 
Buck's,  at  celebration,  13. 

Fowler,  Rev.  Abraham,  at 
Naugatuck,  143. 

Frayser,  Mr.,  was  he  a 
Waterbury  minister?  173- 

175- 
Frontier     experiences    of 

Waterbury,  38,  95. 
Frontier  missions,  48. 
Fruits  of  revival  in  1817,  51. 


Gates,  Rev.  H.  N.,  at  North- 
field,  152. 

General  Court,   the.  and  the 
churches,  96,  175. 

Gibson,  A.  S.,  anthem  by,  13. 
organist  at  celebration,  13. 

Gilbert  legacy  at  Northfield, 
152,  153. 

Gillet,     Rev.   Alexander,     at 
Wolcott,  139. 

Gospel  as  life,  221. 

Governorship   of  Connecticut 
in  1891,  88. 

Graham,    Rev.    John,    poem 
by,  200. 

Granger,  Rev.  D.,  at  Water- 
town,  101. 

Grave    of    John    Southmayd 

opened,  258. 
Mark  Leavenworth  opened, 

260. 

Timothy  Hopkins   opened, 
260. 

"  Great  awakening,"  45,   46, 

201. 
at  Watertown,  102. 

Great  drought,  182.         . 

Great  flood,  38. 

Great  sickness,  39,  182,  202. 

Gridley,  Rev.  Uriel,  at  Water- 
town,  104. 

Griggs,  Rev.  Dr.  Leverett,  at 
Bristol,  167. 

Griggs,  Rev.  L.  S.,  at  Terry  - 
ville,  167. 

Guests  at  collation,  15-17. 

Half-way  covenant,  31,  180. 

Hart,    Rev.    Luther,   at  Ply- 
mouth, 131. 
on  the  decline  of  religion,  48. 


270 


INDEX. 


Hazeltine,    Rev.    H.    M.,    at 

Oxford,  135. 
in  the  celebration,  n. 
Hazen,    Dr.     A.     W.,     letter 

from,  253. 
Headstones,   inscriptions  on, 

7,8. 

removed  to  church,  7. 
"Hector,"  the  ship,  176,  178. 
Hillard,  Rev.  E.  B.,  paper  by, 

viii,  108-131. 
pastor  at  Plymouth,  131. 
Historical  discourse,  25-54. 
Hitchcock,     Rev.    Oliver,    at 

Prospect,  162. 
Holmes  brothers,  245. 
Holmes,  Dr.  W.  H.,  on  South- 
mayd's  remains,  259,  260. 
Home  missions,  37,  49,  99. 

beginning  of,  49. 
Hooker,     Rev.      Samuel,     at 

Farmington,  29. 
Hopkins,  Dr.  Mark,  president 
of  Williams  college,  246. 
character  of,  246,  247. 
death  of,  247. 
Hopkins,     Dr.      Samuel,     at 

Great  Barrington,  245. 
covenant  by,  241,  242. 
hero    of    the     "Minister's 

Wooing,"  8,  n. 
under    Southmayd's  minis- 
try, 195. 
Hopkins  legacy  at  Northfield, 

152. 
Hopkins,  Mark,    an   eminent 

lawyer,  245,  246. 
born  in  Water  town,  245. 
grandfather    of    President 
Hopkins,  246. 


Hopkins,  Prof.  Albert,  246. 
great-grandson  of  Timothy, 

245- 
Hopkins,    Timothy,    cranium 

of,  260. 

father  of  Dr.  S  amuel ,  8  an  d  n . 
of  Mark,  245. 
grave  of,  opened,  260. 
great  grandfather  of  Presi- 
dent Hopkins,  245. 
headstone  of,  7. 
Hopkinsianism,  241. 
Hotchkiss    legacy    at   North- 
field,  152. 
House  of  first  minister,  where, 

21. 

Hoyt,  Rev.  J.  P.,  in  celebra- 
tion, 13. 

Hull,      Captain     Joseph,     of 

Derby,     father-in-law    of 

Mark   Leavenworth,   202. 

Humaston,  Caleb,  collector  in 

Northbury,  125,  126. 
Humaston,  Miss  Esther,  243. 
Humphrey,    Rev.    Daniel,  at 

Derby,  131. 

Hunt,    Rev.    Ira,    at    Middle- 
bury,  155. 

Hymn  by  Rev.  J.  G.  Daven- 
port, 90. 
memorial,  14. 
Indian  depredations,  38. 

skull,  259. 

Indian,  the,  a  menace  to  civ- 
ilization, 95. 
war,  183,  189,  207. 
Industries  of  Waterbury  and 

its  church  life,  228. 
Influence  of  church  life,  con- 
servative, 231. 


INDEX. 


271 


Influence  of   church  life,   on 

benevolence,  230. 
on  morals,  230. 

Inscriptions  on  gravestones, 
7,  8,  103,  104. 

Inventors  in  Waterbury,  50. 

Jennings,    Rev.    Isaac,   letter 

from,  255. 

ordained  by    First  church, 
254- 

Johnson,  Rev.  Edwin,  raised 
up  in  Terryville,  168. 

Judd,  Sarah,  headstone  of,  7. 

Judd's  Meadows,  in  Nauga- 
tuck,  142. 

Judd,  Sturges  M.,  map  of 
cemetery  by,  258. 

Judd,  Thomas,  first  deacon,  7. 
a  founder  of  the  church,  34. 
headstone  of,  7. 

Kendrick,  Green,  213,  244. 

King  Philip's  war,  32. 

Kingsbury,  F.  J.,  ancestry  of, 

197,  n. 
paper  by,  197-208. 

Kingsbury  house,  docu- 
ments found  in  the,  174, 
181. 

Kitchell,  Miss  Johanna,  mar- 
ried to  Rev.  J.  Peck,  177, 
178. 

Kyte,  Rev.  Joseph,  at  North- 
field,  152. 

Ladies'  Benevolent  society, 
origin  of,  51. 

Lamps  for  the  First  church, 

255- 
Land  at  Thomaston    deeded 

for  public  uses,  118. 
set  apart  for  the  ministry,  31. 


Leaders  in  religious  thought, 

130. 
Leading    men    of    the    First 

church,  72. 

Leavenworth  genealogy,  207, 
n. 

Mrs.   Ruth,    8,   84-88,    199, 
200,  202. 

Mrs.  Sarah,  second  wife  of 
Mark,  8,  202;  her  two- 
wheeled  chaise,  203. 
Leavenworth,  Rev.  Mark,  and 
John  Southmayd,  198, 
199- 

a  "  new  light,"  201,  202. 

at  Yale  College,  197,  198. 

as  a  man  of  business,  206. 

as  a  teacher,  207  and  n. 

chaplain  of  Whiting's  regi- 
ment, 203. 

character  of,  181,  208. 

courtship  of,  85-88. 

cranium  of,  260. 

death  of,  205. 

grave  of,  opened,  8,  260. 

inscription  on  headstone  of, 
8. 

in  the  Revolutionary  war, 
204. 

lays  corner  stone  of  third 
meeting  house,  205. 

length  of  pastorate  of,  205. 

marries  Ruth  Peck,  199. 

marries  Sarah  Hull,  202. 

Mr.    Davenport's  vision  of, 
78-90. 

obituary  of,  208. 

ordination  of,  200. 

pastorate  of,  20,  42,  46,  49, 
197-208. 


272 


INDEX. 


Leavenworth,     Rev.      Mark, 

preaches    election    sermon, 
204. 

relations  of,  to  Episcopacy 
201,  202,  207. 

residence  of,  200. 

rides  to  Norwich  for  medi- 
cine, 202. 

sermons  by,  203,  204. 

sketch  of,  197-203. 

three  sons  of,  in  the  Revolu- 
tionary war,  204. 
Lee,  Rev.  Mr.,  ordination  of, 

130,  and  n. 
Legacies  at  Northfield,    152, 

153. 

Length  of  pastorates,  51. 
Leonard,     Rev.     S.     C. ,     at 

Naugatuck,  144. 
Letters  from  absent  friends, 

253-255. 

Litchfield  Law  school,  150. 
South  consociation,   North- 
field     church      separated 

from,  152. 

Local  history,  interest  in,  217. 
Lowest  ebb  in  prosperity  of 

church,  49,  50. 
Lutheran  church,  20. 
Lyman,    Rev.     Ephraim,    at 

Plymouth,  131. 
Lyman,     Rev.    Jonathan,   at 

Oxford,  134. 

death  of,  by  accident,  134. 
Magill,  Rev.  S.  W.,  pastorate 

of,  74  and  n. 
Maltby,  D.  F.,  paper  by,  72- 

76. 
Manufactures, development  of, 

in  Connecticut,  50,  229. 


Mattatuck,  area  of,  35,  69,  216. 
incorporated,  25. 
Indian  name  of  Waterbury, 

vii,  4. 

Mead.  Rev.  Mark,  at  Middle- 
bury,  155. 

Meeting  houses  in  Middle- 
bury,  153,  159;  gifts  to 
build,  159. 

in  Naugatuck,  143 ,  144, 
at  Northfield,  150. 
in  Oxford,  133. 
in  Plymouth,  119-125. 
in  Waterbury,  39,  40  and  n, 

48,  52,  189-192. 
in  Watertown,  101,  102. 
Meeting  house,  the  third,  fur- 
nished with  a  bell,  49. 
Membership     of     Waterbury 

churches,  19. 

Members,  original  number  of, 
in  Waterbury,  21,  33,  34. 
Memoranda,  historical,  18-22. 
Memorial  service,  7,  171-223. 
Men  of  to-day,  obligations  of, 

to  the  past,  250. 
Men  raised  up  in  Middlebury, 

157- 

in  Plymouth,  239. 
in  Prospect,  161. 
in  Watertown,  245. 
in  Wolcott,  138,  141. 
Methodists  in  Waterbury,  53, 

68-71,  71  n. 
earliest,  names  of 
excommunicated,  57,  58  and 

n. 

meetings,  71. 
Micou,    Rev.    R.    W.,   in    the 

celebration,  10. 


INDEX. 


273 


Middlebury  a  generation  ago, 

158. 

society  organized,  154. 
Middlebury    church,  19,   153- 

160. 

gifts  of,  to  Waterbury,  157. 
membership    of,    155,    156, 

159- 
missionary    movement    in, 

i53. 

organized,  154. 
present  state  of,  158. 
Ministers,  associations  of,  96. 
raised  up  in  Oxford,  136. 
in  Terryville,  168. 
in  Waterbury,  S,  n,  g,  135, 

195,  245.  255. 
in  Watertown,  105. 
"  Minister's  wooing,"  hero  of, 

8,  «. 

Ministry,    provision    for,    in 
Waterbury,   30,    33,    181, 
if4-ifo.  1 55.  200-202. 
Minutes  of  N.  H.  East  associ- 
ation at  the  ordination  of 
Samuel  Todd,  119. 
of  the  First  church  concern- 
ing Methodist  dissenters, 
58  and  n.;  concerning  call 
of  Mr.  Peck,  181. 
of  town  meeting  concerning 

Plymouth,  in. 
of     meeting    at    Plymouth 
to  organize  a  society,  117, 
122. 
Mission,    Congregational,    in 

Waterbury,  15. 
Missions  on  the  frontier,  49. 
Mohr,  Ursinus  O.,  ordained  at 
Reynolds  Bridge,  169, 170. 


Monuments,   inscriptions   on, 

103,  104. 
in  Waterbury,  79,  80. 

Morality  and  the  churches,  230. 

Moral  training  of  communi- 
ties, 217-220. 

Morrow,   J.    H.,   letter  from, 

253- 
Moss,  Rev.  Joseph,  of  Derby, 

131. 

Mother       and      daughter 
churches,  viii,  19,  93-170, 
216. 
Naugatuck  church,  a  house  of 

peace.  147 

church  membership,  147. 
deacons,  146. 
organized,  143. 
parish  house,  145,  146. 
pastors  of,  143,  144. 
sketch  of,  141-147. 
Nettleton,  Dr.  Asahel,  minis- 
try of,  20,  37  and  «.,  51. 
New  age,   an  age  of  institu- 
tions, 52. 
New    centres    of    population, 

43,  94,  108,  192. 
New  Connecticut  aud  Middle- 
bury,  156. 
New    England    divines,    not 

antiquated,  236,  238. 
real  character  of,  235,  246. 
very  human.  236. 
worked  without  "machine- 
ry," 237,  238. 

New  settlers,  labors  and  pa- 
tience of,  69,  159, 1 86,  iS~. 
Northbury  parish,  19,  108-131. 
boundaries  of,  116. 
organized,  115-117. 


274 


INDEX. 


"North  farmers"  in  Derby, 
permitted  to  organize  a 
society,  132. 

Northfield  church,  viii,  19, 148- 

153. 

pastors  of,  151,  152. 
Old  cellars  in  Prospect,  161. 
Old  Testament  criticism,  219. 
Old-time      worshippers      de- 
scribed, 30,  41,  42. 
Oneida  community  and  Pros- 
pect, 162. 
Orcutt,  Rev.  Samuel,  History 

of  Wolcott  by,  140,  n. 
Organization  of  First  church 

delayed,  31,  33. 
described,  34,  35. 
place  of,  21,  35. 
time  of,  18,  21,  33. 
Organizations,     modern,     52, 

237- 

Original  minutes  of  meeting 
that  called  Mr.  Peck,  181. 

Oxford  church,  19. 
sketch  of,  131-136. 
society  organized,  132,  133. 

Painter,  Rev.  C.  C.,  at  Naug- 
atuck,  144. 

Parade  ground  in  Plymouth, 
126. 

Parish  house  at  Naugatuck, 
145,  146. 

Parish,  original,  disintegra- 
tion of,  43,  101,  108-116, 
132,  137,  143,  153,  161. 

Participants  in  the  celebra- 
tion, 9-13. 

Pastors  of  Eagle  Rock  church, 

169,  170. 
at  Middlebury,  155. 


Pastors  at  Northfield,  151,  152. 
at  Oxford,  134,  135. 
at  Plymouth,  130,  131. 
at  Terryville,  166,  167. 
at  Watertown,  105. 
of    First    church,    list    of, 

20. 

portraits  of,  6. 
Peck,  Jeremiah,  jr.,  father  of 

Ruth     Leavenworth,    85, 

«.,  199. 
Peck,  Rev.  Jeremiah,  and  the 

N.  H.  colony  school,  177- 

180. 

at  Elizabeth  town,  180.     - 
at  Greenwich,  Conn.,  181. 
at  Harvard  college,  177. 
began  Waterbury  ministry, 

21,  28. 

character  of,  183. 
coming  of,   to  Waterbury, 

181,  182. 

death  of,  39,  183. 
grave  of,  unknown,  183. 
had  he  a  predecessor  ?  173- 

175- 

marriage  of,  177. 
on  the  ship  Hector,  176. 
petition    of,      to     General 

Court,  178-180. 
sketch  of,  173-183. 
sons  of,  85,  181,  182. 
Peck,  Ruth,  courtship  of,  84- 

88. 
married      to      Rev.     Mark 

Leavenworth,  199. 
Pegrum,  Rev.  R.,  paper  by, 

99-107. 
Periods  in  Waterbury  history, 

37- 


INDEX. 


275 


Petitions  to  General  Court,  by 
Jeremiah    Peck,    178-180. 
by  Northfield,  148. 
by  Oxford,  132. 
by  Plymouth,  111-115,  J2i- 

125. 

by  Salem,  143. 
by  Waterbury,    33,    38,  39, 

189,  190. 

by  Watertown,  100-102. 
Phipps,    Rev.    W.   H.,  paper 

by,  160-162. 

Planters  of  Mattatuck,  emi- 
grants from  Farmington, 
29. 

men  of  the  modern  time,  28. 
names  of,  21. 
of  Anglo-Saxon  stock,  36. 
Platt,  Dr.  G.  L.,  from  Middle- 
bury,  157. 
Plymouth     church    and    her 

children,  238,  239. 
colonizing.  166. 
grateful  for  her  parentage, 

238. 

organized,  19,  118. 
sketch  of,  108-131. 
Plymouth,  first  settlers  at,  108. 
Plymouth    Hollow,     19,    108- 

121,  163-165,  166. 
Plymouth  settlers   appeal  to 
the  town  for  winter   privi- 
leges, no. 
memorials  of,  to  legislature, 

112-115. 

Plymouth  society  reorgan- 
ized, 121. 

vote  to  build  by,  124,  126. 
Plymouth  town  incorporated, 


Pohl,  F.  J.,  ordained  at  Rey- 
nolds Bridge,  169. 

Porter,  President  Noah,  de- 
scription of  early  New 
England  life  by,  29,  30. 

Porter,  Rev.  Edward,  pastor- 
ate of,  20,  49. 

Portrait  of  Rev.  Luke  Wood, 
6. 

Portraits  in  parlors  of  First 
church,  6. 

Potter,  Tertius  D.,  of  Thomas- 
ton,  164  and  n,  256. 

Prayer  meeting,  origin  of,  51. 

Prayer  meetings  before  1829, 

255- 
Preaching,  dogmatic,  no  longer 

relished,  220. 
Prichard,  Miss  S.  J.,  article  by, 

in  "American,"  21,  22. 
papers  by,  173-196. 
Prospect  church,  19,  sketch  of, 

160-162. 
Prospect       men       in      other 

churches,  161. 
Public  library  at  Northfield, 

152. 
in    Waterbury,    origin     of, 

157- 
Pulpit  supplies  at  Northfield, 

151- 

at  Oxford,  134,  135. 
Puritans,  the  eulogy  of,  by  Dr. 

Rowland,  59,  60. 
by  Mr.  Eggleston,  69. 
by  Mr.  Zelie,  235-238. 
Quaker  Farm,  petitioners  at, 

131- 

Rapidity  of  modern  achieve- 
ment, 70. 


276 


INDEX. 


Read,   Rev.   John,   called    to 

Waterbury,  184,  185. 
describes     the     Rev.     Mr. 

Torrey's  praying,  185, 186. 
Relics  of  the  dead,  7,  257-261. 
Religion,  decline  in,  31,  32,  48. 
Remains  of  pastors,  exhumed, 

7,  259-261. 

final  disposition  of,  261. 
Revival,  45,  and  reaction,  48. 
excesses,  effect  of,  46. 
of  1817,  under  Nettleton,  51. 
Revivals  at  Terryville,  167. 

at  Watertown,  105. 
Revolutionary  war,  46,  47,  48. 
Reynolds  Bridge,  church  at, 

19,  169,  170. 
Richards,      Dr.     James,     at 

Northfield,  152. 
Richardson,  Rev.   Merrill,  at 

Terryville,  166,  167. 
Root,   Rev.  David,  pastorate 

of,  20. 
Ross,   Rev.   A.    Hastings,   at 

Terryville,  167. 
Rowland,    Rev.    E.,    address 

by,  59-63. 
Rural  churches,  20,  137,   138, 

157,  161,  231,  239. 
Russell,  Rev.  F.  T.,  grandson 

of  Rev.  Luke  Wood,  6. 
Salem    society,    19,    141-147, 

161. 

Sanford,  Rev.  E.  B.,  at  North- 
field,  152. 

at  Reynolds  Bridge,  169. 
Saybrook  platform,  42,  43,  96, 

97- 

Scholars  of    the    house,    197, 
198. 


School,  Miss  Pierce's,  at  Litch- 

field,  150. 
the  colony,  at  New  Haven, 

177-180. 

Scovill,  Rev.  James,  207. 
Scovill,  Edward,  244. 
Seating    the    meeting  house, 

42,  65,  190-192. 
at  Northfield,  150. 
Second    Congregational 
church, Waterbury,  19,  53. 
invited  to  celebrate,  3. 
growth  of,  75. 
origin  and  spirit  of,  222. 
sketch  of,  72-76. 
society  organized,  72,  73. 
spire  blown  over,  76. 
Settlers,  of  Northfield,  148. 
of     Waterbury,     of     what 

stock,  29,  36. 
life  of,  described,  29. 
Services,  order  of,  at  celebra- 
tion, 9-13. 
Sherman,     Rev.     C.     S.,     at 

Naugatuck,  144,  145. 
centennial  sermon  by,  144.  n. 
Skeletons  exhumed,    7,    259- 

261. 
Smith,  Rev.  E.  A.,  paper  by, 

93-99- 
Smith,  Rev.  Isaiah  P.,  paper 

by,  136-141. 
Snow,  Rev.  F.  S.,  n,  a  son  of 

the  First  church,  135. 
pastor  at  Oxford,  135. 
Societies,     ecclesiastical,     set 

apart,  43,  73,  101, 116,  132, 

137,  143,  148,  153,  161, 192. 
Society  for  the  promotion  of 

freedom,  204. 


INDEX. 


277 


Soldiers'  monument,  79,  80. 

South-east  Farms,  in  North- 
field,  148. 

Southmayd,  Daniel,  "Water- 

bury's  pride,"  203. 
sermon  on  death  of,  203. 

Southmayd,  Mrs.  Dorcas,  of 
Watertown,  fund  begun 
by,  106. 

Southmayd,  Rev.  John,  and 
Mark  Leavenworth,  198, 

199- 
attitude  of,  to  the  Church  of 

England,  194,  195. 
becomes  town  clerk,  193. 
bereavements  of,  196. 
called,  40. 
children  of,  189. 
conies  to  Waterbury,  186. 
cranium  of,  described,  259, 

260. 
disinterment  of  remains  of, 

7,  257-259- 

gifts  of  the  town  to,  188. 
grave    of,    7,    196,    n,    257- 

259- 

headstone  of,  8  and  n. 
land    at  Thomaston  given 

by,  1 1 8. 

landed  estate  of,  194. 
lineage  of,  187. 
pastorate  of,  20,  42,  193. 
settlement  of,  188. 
sketch  of,  184-196. 
work  of,  in  Waterbury,  189, 

I93-I95- 

Starr,  Rev.  E.  C.,  at  North- 
field,  152. 

parish   papers    edited    by, 
I53>  »• 


Stocking,  Dea.  John,  244. 
Stone,  Rev.  Dr.  A.  L.,  raised 

up  in  Oxford,  136. 
Storrs,  Rev.  Andrew,  at  Ply- 
mouth, 128,  131. 
Subscribers,  original,  to  Sec- 
ond church  building  fund, 
73- 

Subscription  paper  for  build- 
ing Middlebury  meeting 
house,  159. 
Sunday  school,  origin  of,   51. 

in  Middlebury,  158. 
Swedish  church,  19,  n. 
Sympathy  in  building  up  com- 
munities. 221. 
Tax  upon  land  in  Northbury, 

124,  125. 
Territorial .  division    in     the 

town,  43,  108. 
Terry,  Eli,  gifts  of,  to  Terry- 

ville  church,  168. 
Terry ville  church.   19,  in  the 

civil  war,  167,  168. 
membership  of,  167. 
sketch  of,  165-169. 
Theology  a    progressive    sci- 
ence, 52. 
Thomaston  church,  19. 

sketch  of,  163-165. 
Thomaston      park,      original 

deed  of,  118,  n. 
Todd,  Rev.  Samuel,  a  man  of 

progress,  130. 
at  Plymouth,  117,  118,  128- 

130. 

character  of,  129,  130. 
hardships  of,  128. 
ordained,  118,  119. 
relief  for,  129. 


278 


INDEX. 


Torrey,  Rev.  Mr.,  of  Wey- 
mouth,  in  prayer,  185,  186. 

Town  of  Waterbury,  original 
dimensions  of,  35,  69. 

Townsend,  George  L.,  from 
Middlebury,  157. 

Trouble  in  Northbury  society, 

120-122. 

Trumbull,  Rev.  John,  de- 
scribed, 103. 

installation  of,  at  Water- 
town,  celebrated,  102  and 
n. 

monument  to,  103,  104. 
pastorate  of,  102-104. 
Type,   unity  of,  in   Connecti- 
cut churches,  94. 
Unity  of  Christians,  21,  61,  62, 

66. 

Up-river  inhabitants,  108. 
Vacancies  in  pastorate,  20,  5 1. 
Village  churches,  19. 
Vision  of  Mark  Leavenworth, 

Mr.  Davenport's,  78-90. 
Visitation  and  charity,  fund 

for,  10. 

Visitors  at  celebration,  15-17. 
Vote  to    celebrate     bi-cente- 

nary,  3. 
War,  effects  of,  38,  48,  207. 

for  the  Union,  167,  168. 
Warren,  Franklin,  paper  by, 

141-147. 

Watch,  the  Waterbury,  78. 
Waterbury  and   Farmington, 

early  relations  of,  93,  94. 
annexed    to     New    Haven 

county,  42. 

family  of  churches,  164. 
in  1699,  186,  187. 


Waterbury  in  1800,  50. 

men  in  Oxford  church  and 

society,  134,  133. 
Waterman,  Rev.  Simon,  mod- 
erator at  Northfield,  149. 
pastor  at  Plymouth,  131. 
Watertown  as  a  society,  101. 
centenary,  102,  n. 
diseases  in,  107. 
when  settled,  100. 
Watertown  church,  19. 
discipline  in,  106. 
organized,  102. 
sketch  of,  99-107. 
death  record  of,  107. 
ministers  raised  up  in,  105. 
pastors  and  deacons  in,  105. 
Watts'  hyms  at  Watertown, 

106. 

Weeks,    Rev.    Holland,   fare- 
well sermon  of,  50,  49,  n. 
pastorate  of,  20,  49. 
Welton  monument,  79. 
Westbury,  19,  99-107. 
West  Farms,  19,  153-160. 
Whitefield,  Rev.  George,  re- 
vival under,  201. 
Whittlesey,   Rev.   E.,  pastor- 
ate of,  74. 
Williams,  Rev.  M.  H.,  raised 

up  in  Terryville,  168. 
Winter     privileges     at     Ply- 
mouth, 109-114,  199,  238. 
at  Watertown,  100. 
for  Judd's  meadows,  143. 
Wolcott  church,  18. 
centenary  of,  140,  n. 
' '  raising  deacons  for  Water- 
bury,"  141. 
sketch  of,  136-141. 


INDEX. 


279 


Wolcott,  Episcopalians  in,  140. 

incorporated,  when,  137. 

men  in  city  churches,  141. 

raising  men,  138. 

Wood,  Rev.   Luke,  pastorate 

of,  20,  51. 

Woodbury,  ancient,  described 
by  Rev.  J.  L.  R.  Wyckoff, 
228,  231,  232. 
bi-centenary  of,  232. 
North  church,  228. 
Woodbury  tributary  to  Water- 
bury  churches,  232. 


Woodward,  Rev.  Israel  B.,  at 

Wolcott,  139. 
Woodworth,    Rev.     W.     \V., 

pastorate  of,  20. 
Wooster  swamp,  108. 
Wyckoff,  Rev.  J.  L.   R.,  ad- 

dress  by,  227-233. 
pastorate  of,  at  Woodbury, 

228. 
Zelie,  Rev.  J.  S.,  address  by, 

233-240. 
relations  of,  to  Waterbury, 

239. 


A     000104843    8 


